[Tanya von Degurechaff]
"Attention, Loki familia." Tanya intoned softly as she hovered in the air over the dining hall. "I know that we are all quite tired from our most recent expedition, and our hearts are heavy from burying our comrades."
The dining hall was silent as everyone looked up towards the floating teen above them.
"However, I must ask something of you: I will be putting together another Expedition, one of which the likes has not been seen before." Her eyes surveyed the crowd, and faces were hard all around; there was still determination in their eyes. "We have seven comrades that are still injured, and I cannot sit back and enjoy my life while they are not whole. I will stop at nothing to make sure that they are restored, on this I swear upon my name."
"However," The crowd began to shift and move as whispers broke out, "I cannot do this on my own. I will need help, your help, to accomplish my mission: Obtain 4 Billion valis and purchase from the Dian Cecht familia the Panacea needed to heal our friends and comrades."
The whispers faded as everyone locked their gazes onto her. "I will do it on my own, if I must, but I will ask for your aid because I am not so conceited to think that this burden can be placed on my shoulders alone."
"We brought back an estimated 6 Billion valis on our last expedition, but that was not our purpose, and the vast majority of that will need to go towards paying our bills and properly compensating our allies in the Hephaestus and Freya familias for the outstanding work they did; fighting with us, shoulder to shoulder against the horrors that the Dungeon has to offer." She swallowed, "I know that I am asking a lot, but will you help me?"
One man, a cheinthrope that she knew- the newly promoted Level 5 Cruz Bussel- lifted up his tankard of ale and began to bang it against the table. Another joined him, and then another, and another, until soon every cup, tankard, and fist was beating upon the table; the entire room filling with the sound of an electrifying drumbeat.
Tanya felt her heart beat in time with their pounding fists as a broad grin broke out over her face.
She swallowed. "I will be planning this expedition over the next week, so please, take this time to rest and recuperate; purchase new gear and prepare yourselves, because we are going hunting."
The reason why she had to wait a week? Well, it was the punishment handed down to her by Finn for her earlier insubordination; it was the maximum penalty he could impose on a first-time offense- a one-week suspension from the Dungeon, a verbal warning, and a paltry 10,000 valis fine.
That was fine in her opinion, although she did write a swift rebuttal and turn it over to Loki to be placed in her "Disciplinary File".
Instead, she spent the week meeting with her information brokers, and when she returned to the Wise Guy, he had the list of Entertainment District brokers that she asked for.
She had considered going before to double-check and cross-reference the information Finn might have been receiving from his investigations prior to the expedition, but upon learning from Riveria that he had refused the other Pillar familias before she blundered her way into accepting help from the Freya familia... it made her wonder just what else he could be hiding from her.
"No, I have not heard anything from our most esteemed Finn Deimne-sama," A Pallum wearing silk clothes smiled indulgently as he took a breath from a hookah pipe. "It would, however, please me greatly if he would come and stop by, we have a great number of Pallum who would love to meet him."
"Unfortunately, my dear Radiance," A greying human with slicked-back salt-and-pepper hair gave her a sleazy grin as he pawed at the breast of the beautiful humme bunny in his lap, "I'm afraid that the Braver just doesn't make it my part of town, which is a shame, because I have a number of Pallum girls who'd just love to meet him. I heard he was looking for a Pallum wife, and what better story for a hero than to rescue a poor downtrodden Pallum girl from a whore house and make her his own?"
"Oh? The Braver is looking for an information broker, is he? Well, if he just came by I'm certain I could-" A woman with honey-blonde hair and slightly pointed ears- a quarter-elf if Tanya had to guess- smiled sultrily.
"- find him the information he's looking for," A werewolf man with brown hair and a scar across his nose chuckled, "For a price, of course. Nothing here in the Entertainment district is for free, right?"
Ten, she'd gone through ten information brokers that the Wise Guy had noted that were reputable. Not seeing anything there she decided to visit the other less reputable brokers and... well, she'd had to fight her way out of one of those meetings; apparently, unlike the other brokers, these men were not up to date on the news, because they saw a beautiful teenaged girl walking into their little den and thought that she was looking for information in exchange for sexual favors.
After leaving a dozen men with broken limbs and damaged pride- better than losing their lives she supposed- she realized that these men were not reputable for a reason.
The information she did uncover about him started to paint a less than flattering picture. However, she didn't just take it at face value, and instead went back to her network to verify what she had heard; they were just rumors, but talk of the Pallum Captain's motivations weren't exactly stellar.
The Wise Guy, this one the Pallum, was more than happy to wax poetic about the failings of Finn Deimne, the self-proclaimed "Hero" of the Pallum people.
"No one asked for his help, you know? Sure, we as a people were... and still are in the shitter, but we don't need a damn hero! We took a group of heroes and worshipped them so much they became a Godly figure in our community, and look where that got us!?" The Wise Guy leaned over, "No, what we need are opportunities. Jobs, income, advancement. Schooling, training, and healers. We have an entire nation that is barely hanging on- the only reason someone hasn't just conquered us yet is because Ares keeps everyone's attention and taking us over wouldn't be worth the effort."
"We have virtually no industry, no system of Government- shit, even Orario is better off than us and there are so many fingers in the pie that the city can't decide on which way is up or down!" His voice was poisonous, his hatred spilling past his lips, "Yet what has Finn Deimne ever done for us, huh? I've got copies of his records from the Guild, and that man right there? He could bankroll our entire nation with his earnings; build us schools, orphanages, and hire tradesmen to take on apprentices. He could actually make a very real difference in Pallia, but no, he would much rather play the part of a hero instead of actually being a hero."
Tanya made sure to file that information away because the source was obviously biased, but with every scrap she could gather the only positive things said about Finn Deimne came from those born and raised in Orario, while those Pallums who had lived in Pallia and moved to Orario just see him as a shill; a figurehead that no one wanted. It was a stark contrast, but the more she applied the information acquired to her previous experiences- going all the way back to the first day Tanya had met the man- the more things lined up.
He was a Hero, but one only on paper. Stories were written about him here in Orario and then circulated back in Pallia for the masses to consume; those that could read at any rate.
It was, however, wholly irresponsible, not to mention impractical, to place the hopes and dreams of an entire race of people onto the shoulders of one man; even if he placed the mantle there himself. If he was trying to recreate the Knights of Fionna and bring hope and life back to the Pallum people, then he would be much better served banding together with his fellow Pallum Adventurers to make that happen; alone it would be impossible, but if he added the Gulliver brothers, and the half dozen other Pallum who made it to Level 4, and Level 5?
Then it just might be doable, however, the fatal flaw he would run into was that he would just be perpetuating the same crime his race committed thousands of years ago by deifying another group of mortals.
While there wouldn't be hundreds of Divines coming down to kick sand in their faces for believing in a false Goddess this time around, it would still be a huge weak point.
He would be much better off taking his knightly group and building their people up through charity.
Even Tanya had a half-dozen charities in her name in the Empire! One of which directly funded the orphanage she grew up in, and she made sure to donate a fairly generous portion of her paycheck each quarter to help the sisters there pay for better food and clothing.
If he wanted to vastly improve his personal image, then charity would be the surefire way to take his already substantial fame and send it skyrocketing towards the heavens themselves!
Image.
Reputation.
Renown.
Everything kept coming back to those three words, and while Tanya noted and even approved of his care for the notoriety of himself and the familia he was representing as its Captain, she understood just how important such a thing was.
She just didn't know how important it was to Finn Deimne and just how far he would go to maintain it.
Everything came back down to Evilus, as it was Finn Deimne's first "commercial success" so to speak, and he was the first Pallum to make Level 5 since the Zeus and Hera familias ran the show, and he was the first-ever Pallum to make Level 6.
However, those second two achievements lose their luster when the people begin to think "Well, if he did it once, of course he could do it again!"
The first story, the one that put his name on the lips of every Adventurer and Pallum in Orario, was the one that the vast majority of the people still remember; as it sits right now, the people say "Finn Deimne, huh? Isn't he the Captain of the Loki familia that finally put an end to Evilus?"
Evilus.
She thought it strange that he would be acting so irrationally during the planning of the expedition, downplaying her concerns and attempting to get her to back off on her investigations on Evilus. Earlier Tanya thought that he was worried for her safety, something she wouldn't begrudge the man as if any of her subordinates thought to go out and try for a solo investigation then she should shut that down too!
He assured her, along with Loki, that they were investigating it, and they would handle it.
Once they went on the investigation, they would find out the answers to their questions.
Well, their expedition did indeed answer a lot of questions, ones that they didn't even know they wanted answers to- like, 'How many monsters could Evilus possibly put onto the field at any single moment in time with enough preparation?'
The answer was: A lot.
The best thing to come out of that expedition was the Tamer that AG 2-1, Calliope and her Wild Roses party, had captured at the cost of everything short of their lives.
Finn handed him over to Freya for questioning, trusting that she would be able to get the information they needed, and upon hearing his reasoning for why she understood; it was rather terrifying to think that at any moment in time she could have been charmed by the Goddess of Love and Beauty- it was only the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction that kept her from stepping out of bounds when it concerned the Loki familia.
Finn was doing better now after the aftermath of the battle, but he had been recalcitrant and bull-headed leading up to it; had she not cowed him into submission by putting his reputation on the line in front of the entire party present, there was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't have just taken his 59th Floor team and left.
They would have all died had those fortifications not been built.
They would have all died had she not interceded and gotten the Freya familia's archers to join.
People, good people, did die for Finn Deimne's hubris, and knowing what she knew now, that was not something she could tolerate.
He was only improving after having his perfect box shaken, and he was now in full "Cover his ass" mode, all smiles and pleasant nods; even if he hadn't returned to calling her "Tanya-dono" as he had when she first arrived.
The conversation she was about to have was a long time coming. It had been on her mind the past three months, ever since she started her investigations with the Royal Rats, ever since she intervened and added the Freya familia to their roster, ever since she was reprimanded, ever since the battle and their subsequent return...
She needed to know.
The only reason she didn't have this conversation sooner was because she wanted to believe that he hadn't been jerking her around, she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, and then when they returned from the Dungeon after having fought an Enhanced Species Monster Rex in the form of a Black Goliath (she knew that Hermes was bad news!) she wanted to give them time to rest and gather their thoughts.
The fact that the week made it easier for her to plan for her personal expedition and get her own ducks in a row made it so that everything lined up neatly.
Tanya froze in front of the doors to Loki's office and took a deep breath and centered herself. Her clothing was professional, her suit and been cleaned and pressed, and she had a binder with all of her findings; her new findings had been added, and she was ready to go.
The door felt unbearably heavy as the weight of what she was about to do dawned on her, but she never shied away from adversity before, and she would be damned if she would do so now.
Tanya pushed the door open and stepped inside, however she did not close it behind her. All of the Executives were in the room- Tiona was fiddling with an abacus, her tongue sticking out past her lips as she flicked the beads over with a determined look on her face.
Tione was doing her best to appear as calm and at ease as Finn while doing her paperwork; a bead of sweat slid down her face as she quickly checked three different forms in quick succession.
Aiz was looking at her paperwork with a befuddled expression, while Bete was growling at the spreadsheets in front of him like they had just called his resolve "weak" and gave him a raspberry.
Gareth was humming away at his desk while he sipped on a pint of ale while happily sliding his last sheet of paperwork into his "Out Box", but his joy at being finished didn't last long because Riveria got up from her desk and walked over to drop a fresh stack of paperwork onto his. The dwarf slumped.
Even Loki, the lazy-in-character but not-actually-lazy Goddess, was hard at work as she chewed through the paperwork that the Guild had sent over; she should be working on the finalized pay-out sheet, which included an itemized list of every single monster core and drop item the expedition had gathered.
The Goddess was happy to latch onto any distraction, and Tanya's arrival was just what she needed. "Oh ho! Tanya-chan is here! Back from your one-week suspension, I see? Ah!? You've also got your 'Presentation Suit' too! It looks so good on you- Aiz-tan!? We should get you a suit made like that, you'll both match and it will be super cute! You'll both escort your Goddess to her next ball, right? Right?"
Tanya couldn't help but feel a small smile lilt on her lips as a soft snort escaped her. The Goddess got up from her desk and strode around it to throw herself in her high-backed and cushy red velvet chair. "So~? You got a presentation for us? Let's forget about all of this paperwork for a moment and see what Tanya-chan has to say!"
The young teen shook her head, "I do have a presentation, Loki-sama, but it is for you and Deimne-dono alone. May I ask that everyone else leave the room?"
The Goddess' playful demeanor switched from lounging house cat to lounging tiger quite quickly, and everyone else seemed to pick up on the mood. "Well then, this sounds important, I think you all have earned a nice little break, yeah? Go out and enjoy the sun for me- maybe get some sweets from the bakery down the street?"
Everyone slowly got up, but they did file out one at a time, but only Riveria and Gareth seemed to understand the tone that Tanya had set; the Princess gave her one last searching look before she closed the door behind them.
"Oi! Pick me up some of those Bear Claws! Like, a dozen of them!"
The Goddess adjusted herself in her chair and sat upright, her posture straight for once; to date, Tanya didn't think it was possible for Loki to sit properly in this particular chair- she was always lounging in some form or fashion. The room was silent as Finn stood up from behind his desk and took his seat while Tanya grabbed the nearest chair and sat it down not at her place, on the Executive's side, but at the other end of the table where she had first negotiated her entrance into the familia.
"So it's come to this, huh?" Loki murmured, the Goddess and the Pallum noting her seating placement.
Finn sighed. "Indeed, it appears so, Loki-sama."
Tanya pulled her binders and paperwork out of her briefcase. "Upon my return from the Dungeon, whenever I obtain the valis necessary to purchase the 10 vials of Panacea to restore out injured comrades, I will be resigning my commission as an Executive of the Loki familia and seeking release from the Loki familia entirely."
The young teen stood up and walked over and presented them both with a binder as well as a copy of her resignation paperwork.
"And you're doing this why?" Loki asked, more for clarification than anything else; she knew why.
"While I am indeed grateful for the opportunities provided to me by you, Loki-sama, and the Loki familia as a whole, I negotiated my employment here under contract, and during the past few months a number of the clauses in that contract were violated; not by you, Loki-sama, but by Finn Deimne." She worked her jaw and pulled out a four-page copy of her contract along with a sheet and she began to read.
There were several smaller violations of her contract that she had deemed to overlook mainly because they weren't worth bothering with in her opinion, except when they built up over time and became a systemic problem; if they got to that point she would have notified them of her disagreements and violations of her contract before giving them an opportunity to fix the problem.
It is always important to take that particular step because oftentimes people were unaware that one had such grievances, and it is on the part of the employee to at least give their employer a chance to redress such mistakes. If they didn't improve then? Well then, you had paperwork to back your departure that your departure when you moved onto the next company.
However, there were some mistakes that could not be fixed with a sternly worded letter.
"Gross negligence that I feel is... no, if this were to happen under your command in any of the neighboring militaries of Orario, you would be lucky if you weren't stripped of your rank and then hung in the gallows. The refusal to accept aid from the other familias when they offered it to you in the spirit of cooperation that we had been building directly lead to the deaths of 33 of our men." Tanya did her best to not let her anger seep into her voice, but damnit it was so fucking hard.
"More than that, you downplayed my concerns, attempted to stonewall my investigations into Evilus in Daedalus, and you accomplished just that by assuring me that you were looking into it when it has become clear to me that you were solely focused on preparing for the expedition down to the 59th Floor... banking on that to give you the information you needed to wage your war on Evilus."
Finn's face was carefully blank, but Loki's small, vicious grin was all of the confirmation Tanya needed. However, that could be labeled just speculation, and she couldn't have that. So she pulled open her binder and began flipping through it. "Another clause in my contract states that 'I will be truthful to the best of my abilities, and I will harbor no information that could be considered harmful to the safety or the reputation of the familia.' The contract assured me that as a High Executive I would be privy to the most sensitive information of the familia and not left out of the loop. However, there have been several occasions where this has occurred, especially concerning Evilus; and don't think for a second I haven't noticed the huddles you've had with Riveria Ljos Alf and Gareth Landrock, because both you and Loki are guilty of this. You have kept information from me while I have been completely open and honest with everything that I've found."
Finn's lip twitched minutely, but he didn't speak, he only looked through the binder that Tanya had placed in front of him.
"This is compounded by the fact that you lied to me. You were conducting no such investigation; I've been in contact with every information broker of repute, and some of those without it, in both Daedalus, in the Entertainment District, and the Business District." She tapped her finger onto the page that had an itemized list of every broker, their contacts, and a transcript of Tanya's conversations with them, "You haven't set foot in any of those places, and if you did try to conduct an investigation then you must be really good at remaining anonymous for such a well-known and public figure."
"Loki-sama has gone out and conducted investigations of her own, mainly to corroborate and verify the truthfulness of the informants and brokers I've been meeting with, and so far everything that I've found is at least believed to be true by the parties responsible for giving the information to me."
Loki's grin widened. "Oh? Caught that did you?"
"Yes, I did, when the Wise Guy informed me that someone with the moniker of 'Big Spender' was going around and collecting information on me, often paying more than generous prices," Tanya tilted her head and nodded at the Goddess gratefully, "The 'employer wanting to watch over me' bit was what tipped me off, the Royal Rats were loath to break your trust, but considering Tabbitha had been seen in the presence of this 'Big Spender' on one occasion I thought that the chance of betrayal was possible but unlikely."
She sighed and rubbed at her brow, "Once I pieced this information together in front of them they were forced to reveal your game."
The Goddess chuckled, "Welp, I had a lot of fun, but it was pretty cool to do something different; I even got to flex my mortal magical muscles for the first time in a long time!"
"Yes, I am certain that you did enjoy yourself, however, we are getting off-topic." Tanya placed the binder down and put her hands on the table.
"The fact of the matter is, for reasons of your own, you, Finn Deimne, have impeded my investigations, hidden information from me which you were not supposed to hide, lied and mislead me into believing that there were more concurrent investigations that you were leading on your own. You also outright rejected the aid of the Pillar familias that was offered to you, something I might point out that you did unilaterally and had the gall to chastise me and reprimand me for accepting the aid of the familias after I had built the bridges to do so."
"The Loki familia charter states that 'all major decisions will be decided by a vote of the Executive members, and if the matter is time-sensitive, or not all Executive members are present or capable of voting, then the responsibility for making such decisions would fall onto the High Executives'- of which I am a part of- 'and they would vote then. Any votes requiring a tie-breaker would fall to our Goddess, Loki-sama'." Tanya's eyes narrowed, "I do not recall there being a vote on whether or not to accept the aid of the other familias for the expedition, or did you hold that vote behind closed doors without my attending as well, Finn Deimne?"
"The only way this could be circumvented is if the Captain invokes the 'Emergency Captain's Prerogative', and I did not hear a proclamation of such a thing, nor did I receive any paperwork stating that you had activated such a statute." Her eyes narrowed, "So I am inclined to believe that those powers were not touched, yes?"
Finn swallowed slowly and stood up to grab a cup and pour himself some water from the pitcher provided at the refreshments table. "No, I did not invoke that provision, nor did I have a vote on whether or not to accept the aid of the Pillar familias. I did act unilaterally, my reasons for doing so I believed them to be sound at the time; not since the days of the Uncapped Dungeon have familias ever worked so closely, even when Evilus was around the first time the familias did not loan out their forces in such as fashion... unless the Divines were close enough. The Pillar familias of this Orario are not so close."
When he returned to his seat Tanya continued.
"That is irrelevant to the situation at hand: They were informed that Evilus, a hated threat to this city, was making a return and they offered you their support in the form of material and manpower- some of which were the most powerful members of their familias- and trusted that Finn Deimne would use them well and lead them to destroy Evilus, or at least learning more about them before they could return to wreak havoc on Orario at its citizens. However, instead of accepting their aid, you turned them away without consulting with the other Executives of the familia."
She interlaced her fingers in front of her on the desk. "You betrayed the trust of the Pillar familias, but more importantly, you betrayed the trust of the Executives and of the men and women who followed you into the Dungeon to seek out and confront this threat."
"And your own contributions?" He asked, the Pallum licking his lips as he scrubbed a hand along his chin.
"My own contributions are irrelevant to this discussion; I could have helped every single member of this familia rank up to Level 5 before we went down there and it still wouldn't be worth mentioning, because our preparations and my involvement are not what we are discussing." She leaned forward, "What we are discussing is the fact that you turned away aid freely given, powerful aid, and that directly lead to the deaths of 33 of our familia members."
"While no one could have predicted that Evilus would have such capabilities, that too is irrelevant. The fact is that you had tools and resources at your disposal to ensure the safety of our men and women, and you did not apply them. It was only when I interceded and unknowingly forced your hand to accept the Freya familia's archers that you acquiesced and allowed them to come."
Tanya grit her teeth. "Those men saved not only our lives but likely our entire expedition and our familia's place as a Pillar. I don't know if you could have fought your way through thousands of Viola and Virga in the conditions you were in after the battle with the Corrupted Spirit, but considering Tiona and Tione were unconscious and the Level 4s were barely on their feet? I think that the best you could have done was run because you did not have the capability to protect Riveria long enough for her to cast Rae Levantine. Which would have left whoever of us that had survived till your return to perish."
"However, those are all hypotheticals and... I'm sorry, I should be sticking to the facts and not talking about 'what ifs' and 'what could have beens'." Tanya reached up and readjusted her tie; it was a little tight and she was starting to become very warm, a small bead of sweat sliding out of her hair and ghosting past her earlobe and down her neck.
Even though this was going about as well as she could have hoped, it was still nerve-wracking. Neither Tanya nor Salaryman have ever quit before; Tanya wouldn't have been allowed to quit, and for Salaryman leaving your place of work without a very, very good reason and exceptional documentation was considered a death sentence.
"You made many poor decisions, in bad faith, that led to no small number of our familia members to not come home. Even if it could be considered a great victory that we deprived Evilus of a vast amount of time and resources, the fact remains that had I had those Level 6s, Level 5s, Level 4s, and Level 3s offered by the other familias then the battle would have turned out far different. That is not speculation, that is fact." She leaned back in her chair, "And I would challenge anyone to sit down with me to go over the battle footage I have and show me where I could have done better, because I've agonized over this battle since the day I fought it, and for the life of me I could not find an instance where I could have done better with the resources at my disposal."
"And I hate having to think about the men and woman who were placed under my command as such... they were not tools or equipment, they were people, people of our familia, and I had to spend their lives to make sure that as many people as possible could make it through that Goddamn battle!" Tanya felt her control over her emotions slip as her voice continued to rise, and the tears that had prickled her eyes started to spill over.
Illusions came into being over her should, 33 different panes, each one playing the death of the individual Adventurer on a loop. Their anger at being killed. The pain on their faces as they succumbed to their wounds. The fear on their faces as their deaths loomed over them. The sheer, blinding agony and terror as they were slowly dissolved into a pool of acid and human remains. In a few instances, the satisfaction in their sad smiles as they perished while getting their fellows out of harm's way in exchange for their own lives.
"These scenes will haunt me for the rest of my life, Finn Deimne, and I was the one that had to look their loved ones in the eye and tell them of their passing, all the while handing over a large sack of valis and assuring them that their sacrifice was worth it and that they would be taken care of by the Loki familia to honor that sacrifice." The illusions faded away as Tanya patted her eyes with her fingers and cleared her runny nose of mucus.
"Then what would you have me do?" The Pallum man whispered, "I cannot change the past, I can only correct my failings going forward."
Tanya felt a small smile break out on her face, "Yes, and I believe that you are already taking steps to do so, which is more than I can say for most people who would attempt to shirk their responsibilities and cast blame everywhere but where it belongs."
"However, that does not change what did happen, and like you told me there should be consequences for our actions. I have served my sentence, but you have yet to serve yours. As you are the Captain, no one can judge you and mete out punishment but Loki-sama, at least not unless you submit yourself to your peers. However, that would mean that you would have to acknowledge your failings and then expect your closest friends to judge you fairly."
Loki, who had been smiling up until this point firmed up. "I've already spoken with Finn-kun regarding his ploy, and I will be exacting my punishment on him for a long, long time to come. However, I recognize that totality of circumstances, yeah? Evilus was far more prepared than any of us ever realized, but as to what the scope of his punishment is... well that is between him and myself. Although, I don't think that is sufficient for you, is it?"
Tanya's eyes fluttered as she looked down at her hands. "No, I don't believe it is. I am thankful that I was found by the Loki familia in the Dungeon all those months ago. Being here has been like a dream, and over time I've come to truly appreciate the people here and working with those under me. I will cherish the memories I made."
She blinked back her tears. "However, I cannot in good conscious remain here after I was lied to, manipulated, and then placed into a battle of which the hopes of winning were slim to none... forced to bear the weight of the deaths of those under my care... because of the actions of a single man who will remain in the very same position of authority he abused."
"I do not hate you, Finn Deimne, but I wish I could. The worst part about this all is that I believe I have an understanding of why you did it, this... gamble. If you had succeeded then it would have likely taken you to new heights, and the odds were in your favor with the information we had at the time, but you lost, and it was other people who paid the price for it."
Tanya closed up her binders and placed them back in her briefcase before she stood up from her chair. "The trust I once had in you is gone, and I cannot remain here in this organization if I am going to be forced to second guess your every decision."
Loki sighed and stood up from her chair and went over to Tanya's binder on the wall and pulled out the original contract. "Very well then, I'll let you go, Tanya-chan. If only because you've been really good to us. That and I don't want to lose a portion of my Divinity! It really sucks, yanno? Like missing a finger; the last time I lost a portion to a guy in a bet, and I had to put up with it for twenty years until the guy died and it returned to me."
She looked over at Tanya with a soft, sad smile on her face. "I have a feeling that you'll be living a great deal longer than twenty years, so I'll have to pass. Now, let's look at your exit fee for early contract termination-..."
The Goddess looked up from the paperwork and frowned. "I could have sworn there were two extra zeros on here. Where did they go!? Curses! Why did I think that charging you 10 Million valis for leaving was a lot of money!?"
Loki scrubbed a hand through her hair and sighed. "Man, if I knew how much you were worth Tanya-chan, I would have made you pay me at least a Billion valis. Tenaki damnit!"
She threw herself onto her chair and screamed into the cushioned arm for a few seconds before excavating her face and looking at Tanya. "Is there really no way I can convince you to stay?"
Tanya sucked her lips into her mouth before she shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Loki-sama. My decision has been made."
"You do know that I am going to Zero you out, right?" The Goddess fished, "I can be quite petty, yanno?"
"I was aware of that possibility, yes, and I can accept that. I will grow once more, maybe even faster than I did previously now that I know what works and what doesn't."
"Uuuuggghhhh~! Don't remind me." Loki climbed off the couch and stood up before walking over and embracing Tanya in a tight hug. "Just don't try to use what you have learned here to fuck over me and mine, and you should do just fine, okay?"
Tanya hugged her back. "That goes both ways."
They released each other and Loki pulled back, the Divine looking her dead in the eye. "Don't forget, about the promise I made to you. If you managed to ever get what you need to see it through... I'll keep it."
There was a sense of Divine Weight to her words that almost made Tanya shudder.
"Thank you."
The expedition was approved to the 37th Floor, and that was their primary target; the Colosseum.
Thirty-five wagons with 80 Adventurers.
The Loki familia had indeed come out of the Dungeon far, far stronger than when they went in. Tiona, Tione, and Bete all Ranked Up to Level 6, while Lefiya had qualified for Level 4 but hadn't taken the Level Up yet because she wanted to improve her Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility before she finalized her Rank Up.
Finn, Gareth, and Riveria were all considered 'Borderline', along with Anakitty, Raul Nord, Alicia Frostlight, and Narvi Roll, while Cruz Bussel surpassed his Level 4 peers with his outstanding performance during the Battle of Tanya's Hill and earned his Level 5.
She hated that name, 'Tanya's Hill'.
If only because she felt it a monument to her failure, but everyone else seemed to revere it, and there was nothing she could do or dissuade them from seeing it as anything other than a monumental victory; entire familias had been wiped in the Dungeon by less for less.
As far as expeditions go, the Loki familia received a significant boost from the battle; while there were 33 fatalities... there were far more Rank Ups than there were losses.
The familia went down with four Level 6s and came back up with seven. They went down with seven Level 4s and came back up with twenty-five additional Level 4s, and the Level 3s gained twenty-six additional members from the Level 2s. Those that didn't experience the Rank Up during the Battle of Tanya's Hill, the borderline ones, finished out their Rank Ups in facing down the Black Goliath.
The Loki familia was now equal to or ahead of the Freya familia in almost every metric except for the fact that they did not yet have a Level 7, which meant that Loki's position in Orario as the Number 2 Goddess was unquestionable, and if one of the Golden Trio managed to Rank Up then Freya would be supplanted from her position entirely.
If Tanya were more aware of the implications of such a thing, then she would realize that now was a very dangerous period for Orario, but alas, she did not care about such things.
No.
The only thing she cared about now was ensuring that the men and women who volunteered to follow her down into the Dungeon were able to make it back home, all the while making the 4 Billion valis needed to purchase the Panacea from the Dian Cecht familia.
They had passed the 2 Billion valis threshold just the other day after the applicable Guild Taxes and Loki familia tithes, and the stubborn, downright insufferable God had finally begun work on them. Airmid Teasanare was truly a woman of saintly patience to deal with such a blowhard because she would have wrung his neck and sent him back to Tenkai long ago.
"Tanya-sama! The Bravo Train is returning and should be approaching shortly!" Raul Nord called out from the other side of the perpetual furball that was the Colosseum.
Tanya looked behind her. "Alright Charlie Train, you know what we have to do- last verse, same as the first! Enjoy your three days on the surface, stock up, get your equipment repaired, and then get ready to come back down! We were halfway to our goal with the information the Alpha train brought back, we'll be much closer with what the Bravo Train is bringing! Are there any questions?!"
"No, Ma'am!" The Loki familia Adventurers crowed out, the few Hephaestus familia blacksmiths who tagged along roared out with them. They had come to tend to the expedition's equipment and to hopefully gain their Level 3 or 4 fighting monsters at the Colosseum, all the while maintaining the good relationship that had been building since this all started months ago.
They had been down at the Colosseum for almost three weeks by this point, and they were making excellent progress in Tanya's opinion.
Tanya rose off of her feet and turned towards the ten wagon-long train along with the twenty-five Adventurers who were with it. They were all superbly equipped thanks to the valis acquired from their last expedition, and the weeks of constant combat against the endless hoards of the Colosseum had made them strong. Tanya didn't know if her skill activated as she coached them through their battles or not, but at this point, she wouldn't be surprised if it did; according to Riveria the Level 3s and 4s were making incredible progress, as it normally took them six months or more to reach where they were currently.
It also helped that everyone was getting experience functioning in small groups and learning how to lead trains through the labyrinthine structures of the Dungeon without Finn Deimne's prodigious memory to guide them. Even Tanya had felt nervous leading them all down here to this point, but damnit, she had recordings of their previous trip down and she could make some damn fine maps with her Xerox- ahem, Transcription spell.
She did it once and then showed them how to do it too; Level 3s who had never led more than a small team down to the 17th Floor were now running wagon trains consistently from the 1st all the way down to the 37th.
Like clockwork the three trains worked, one Train would fill up on materials and then depart immediately. While another train was being filled up that train would get to the surface, offload, organize the lists, turn over the cores and drop items, retrieve the valis, purchase supplies, rest for a day or two depending on how quickly they accomplished the previous objectives, and then would return to the Dungeon, where the next wagon Train would head up and repeat the process.
"Bravo Train in sight!" Tanya yelled out, "Interdiction team, clear the board!"
"Yahoo!" Tiona yelped out with a grin as she shot off into the air with Urga in hand before she descended into the furball, her dual-bladed Adamantium sword cleaving through all of the monsters on the left-hand side of the platform. A dozen other Level 3s and Level 4s ran out after her with warcries on their lips as they followed her lead, their weapons cutting down all opposition until the left side was devoid of monsters and the right side looked like a moss pit as the fresh spawns were pressured over.
"The path is clear, Bravo Train, bring it on in, we're all quite hungry over here," Tanya spoke with a smile on her face.
The train crossed without difficulties, and Tanya waved the Charlie Train. "Good luck and God Speed, boys and girls!"
The men and women of the Charlie Train waved their good-byes and gave their fellows some high-fives as the convoys passed each other, and Tanya smiled. "Interdiction teams, collapse. We'll come back up and play once we've all had something to eat."
The Adventurers flowed back in and the Level 6 that Tanya requested soared over the crowd of monsters, hooting as she enjoyed the new strength from her Rank Up. "Wooooooooooooooooo Hooooooooo! Amazon incoming!"
When Tiona landed the Genki-zon flashed Tanya a grin as she spun her Urga in her hand to clean off the monster blood. "Man, this is great, Tanya-chi! No wonder Bete-kun didn't want to give up his rotation! So much fighting, so many cores, so much valis! This is the life!"
Tanya laughed as she sat deactivated her flight formula and landed next to her. "Yeah, he didn't seem too pleased when Loki-sama called him back. How long are you planning to stay down here?"
"Hhmmm..." Tiona looked towards the ceiling with her arms behind her head as they followed the freshly arrived Bravo Train back towards the Safe Point beneath the Colosseum where they had set up their camp. "Well, Aiz-chan wanted to come down, but she's been following Argonaut-kun around and training with him up on the wall when he isn't in the Dungeon. It's super cute to finely see her interested in a boy- I was worried that I'd have to help her shop around to try and find a ring for the Dungeon for a little while and- ah, I'm getting side-tracked aren't I?"
Tanya shook her head with a smile as she bumped into the tan-skinned woman's shoulder. "Indeed you are."
"Sorry! Tee-hee!" The girl placed her fist against her head and winked as she stuck her tongue out, "Anyways, I think Riveria-sama was wanting to come down and spend time with you since... well... you know."
The news of Tanya's resignation did not stay hidden for very long; while everyone else left to go get the sweets Loki wanted, Riveria and Gareth remained behind and waited just outside the door.
Riveria was beside herself and pulled Tanya into a close embrace and didn't let her go until Gareth managed to calm her down some.
The young teen could still feel the weight of the Dwarf's meaty hand as it rested on top of her head.
"You've done'a lot fer us, lassie. We'll never ferget it, even if yer part of a 'nother familia, if you call fer us, we'll come runnin'. So, stand up straight, yeah? Never wrong ta' stay true ta' yerself, and don' let anyone eva' tell you otherwise, okay?"
It was probably the most she'd ever heard the Dwarf speak outside of speaking about his weapons or his ale, and she couldn't help but embrace Gareth as well, which caused Riveria to sandwich Tanya in between then... and resulted in them still standing in the hallway until the others returned.
That had been an awkward and uncomfortable discussion, and it took a lot of reassurances to Lefiya that she wasn't leaving because she hated anyone at all; she was leaving because the contract had several significant violations and because she didn't know the nature of the reprimands that Loki levied against Finn she could not in good conscious remain.
Even if he was appearing to make amends, there are just some things that cannot be fixed by doing better in the future.
A CEO caught up in a serious scandal steps down and leaves the company.
A Department Head who fails to properly manage his department is either demoted or fired.
A Project Lead who cannot accomplish the stated goals of the project in a timely fashion and at budget is replaced and demoted or even fired.
A Field Marshall who is given Armor, Field Artillery, and Aerial Mage support but dismisses them out of hand because of misplaced pride and a rivalry between branches and commences a ground assault without them solely because he believed his infantry would be enough?
They would be arrested, court-martialed, stripped of their rank, their titles, and their land, and then summarily executed.
Finn's blunder was more of the final one and less of the previous.
He made a significant tactical error by not utilizing all of the resources at his disposal to ensure not only the success of the mission, but the survival of his subordinates; Tanya wasn't so foolish to believe that there cannot be gains in such fights against foes like Evilus without casualties, but she was certain that they wouldn't have lost a single life had Finn accepted the aid the familias offered.
The two Level 6s alone- the Captains of the Skadi and Inari familias- would have likely been enough to keep the casualties down to the single digits. The additional Level 5s and Level 4s? They would have more than likely eliminated all casualties together as they would have had more Action Groups to fight with and would have ensured that everyone had gotten more rest during the battle.
Another, more tangential benefit, is that it would have allowed more Adventurers of the Pillar familias to fight the monsters that Evilus had revealed thus far, and they could have taken that knowledge back to their familias and trained them on what to expect.
"Tanya-chii..."
The blonde was startled a little bit when Tiona gently rocked her with an elbow. "Yes?"
"You were zoning out." The Amazon frowned softly, and Tanya thought that she saw something akin to concern in her eyes? "When was the last time you got a full night's rest?"
It was odd to hear the usually carefree Amazon being so thoughtful; maybe she did have a brain? A soft snort left her nose, no, Tanya, be nice- that was rude to think. "I've been getting four hours of sleep a night, Tiona. It is all I need."
The dark-skinned teen chuckled as they walked down the staircase, "Nope! Four hours is all your body requires! Yeah, we Adventurers can get away with waaayyyy less sleep than regular mortals, but the sleep isn't so much for your body as it is for your mind and your soul! Come on, let's get some food, we'll take a nice bath together, and then we'll go get some rest. I'll even sleep with you if you want!"
"While I wouldn't be opposed to having a nice meal and taking a shower, I think I'll sleep by myself if it is all the same to you." Tanya sighed as they made it down to the bottom of the staircase and began walking over to the small encampment that they had set up on a small corner of the Safe Zone; there were other familias that stopped by there, so it would be rude to try and spread out.
Not that they needed to because Tanya had gotten a few more Tiny Homes built, although this one was more a bunk-style with four beds built into a wall that could fold out and four cupboards with rudimentary locks on them for them to store their personal items. The shower was moved to the outside to make space for a fold-out desk so that proper paperwork and accounting could be done on-site; the shower stall was neat because it used treated wooden panels that were connected via hinges- two large wooden boards were slid out on rails and then the panels were connected by another panel on hinges. This allowed for most of the torso and lower extremities to be obscured, and when not in use could be folded back up and slid back into the frame of the wagon.
The boys at the 'Pathfinder Wagon' shop were taking her concept and running wild with it.
Unfortunately, while they did have a pretty damn good manufacturing system in place, it was mainly held together by the fact that their craftsmen were all Adventurers; they could churn out these Tiny Homes at an astounding rate for how small their operation was, but it wasn't enough to get everyone one. Tanya had to cycle the Adventurers out instead; those that arrived fresh from the surface slept in tents while those that had been down on the 37th Floor got to sleep in the beds.
Tanya did have to put in place pretty stringent requirements on hygiene, however, making sure that everyone brought their own sheets, while the blankets and pillows were placed in boiling water and then scrubbed down with soap in between rotations.
The meal was nice and vivacious as the new arrivals mingled with the team that was going to go up next when the next one returned from the surface; the groups swapping stories with the general, good-natured rough-housing one would expect from such a newly tight-knit group. Even within the familia, there had been little factions and cliques that needed to be managed, but after the battle of the 50th Floor and the weeks of non-stop fighting in the Colosseum? The bonds of the men and women here were what Tanya believed they should have been in the first place.
Anakitty was the wagon train Commander for the newly arrived Bravo Train, and gave Tanya a succinct debrief on the status of their last haul; she would have the full written report by morning.
Their Wagon Trains had been scarily effective in gaining vast amounts of valis over the past few weeks, but now their income was slowly starting to trickle down; even with the additional monster cores collected on the way down and back up adding to that. The fact was that they were frequently delivering monster cores and drop items from the deep floors, and because the Guild wasn't allowed to hold onto them, they were now starting to saturate the market; lowering the prices of cores and drop items from the Upper Floors as a consequence.
It wasn't a lot, but it was enough that the longer this went on the more the Low-Class Adventurers would start to feel the pinch and some discontent would begin to foment. They needed to finish this up quickly lest they find the entire city turned against them; more importantly, the dip in the markets would be at best temporary, and when the price spikes back up to the usual levels once their farming was completed Tanya could end up harming a lot of businesses that weren't savvy enough to know that the lower prices were only temporary and planned accordingly.
"We're probably going to need to start sending a team to farm even lower, or perhaps even move our entire operation lower if the prices for the cores and drop items we're bringing back up to the surface continue to dip," Tanya muttered to herself as she thought. "Maybe the 44th floor? Hephaestus-sama would like it very much if I can get her more of those Fire Shadow Cat claws."
Tanya didn't even realize that Tiona had pulled her out of her folding chair after she finished her meal and guided her towards the bathing area- a set of poles on stands that had sheets strung up- until the Amazon started to remove the gear that Tanya had on. "Tiona..."
The cheeky Amazon gave her a remorseless grin as her boots were tugged off of her feet, her Goliath Hide flight suit stripped from her person, along with the rest of her clothing. The dark-skinned teen grabbed Tanya by the hand once they were both nude and pulled her into the water; a shiver ran through her body as the cool water caressed her flesh.
The water was so cold that it made the warmth from Tiona's flesh sizzle as the girl sat them down and pulled the blonde into her lap. "You've been working far too hard, Tanya-chii. You didn't even complain once!"
Tanya just didn't have the energy to argue with her as the young woman leaned back towards the shore and grabbed the generic, scent-neutral soap that the familia used in the Dungeon and started to scrub it into Tanya's hair after wetting it down thoroughly. "You've been down in the Dungeon for almost five weeks straight now if you include our expedition, we try to space out our Deep Dives for a reason, yanno? Staying down here for too long can affect your mind; you need to get out and see the sun, feel it on your skin."
Once Tanya's hair was thoroughly cleansed, the woman grabbed a pumice stone and began scrubbing at every bit of exposed flesh she could; although she was far more gentle when she got to her breasts. Tiona stood them up and grabbed the soap again before running it all over Tanya's body, but honestly, the young blonde was just too tired to care; she had been wired not twenty(?) minutes ago and now she felt like she was about to fall off the face of the earth.
A quick dunk removed the soap, and the Amazon gathered up all of their clothes before wrapping them up in one of the sheets and parading Tanya back to her Tiny Home and shutting the door behind them. The room was barely illuminated by the single magic stone lamp that Tiona activated, and the dark-skinned teen dried her thoroughly before wrapping her hair up in a small towel. There was some indecision for a few moments, but she finally settled on dressing Tanya up in a nightgown before laying her in the girl's bed.
Tanya sighed as she nestled into the down mattress and the comforter, and a minute later the Level 6 slid under the covers right next to her. Somewhere along the line, she rolled over and the older teen pulled her into a warm embrace.
For the first time in a long time, Tanya slept.
too.