Danmachi-Hell's forge

"Mmm, it's nice to not be grounded anymore!" I said with a grin the morning my punishment ended.

"Hmph! Maybe next time you'll think before you do something foolish!" Hestia said with a huff.

"To be fair I usually do, I just tend to forget that there are consequences for my actions." I say with a shrug.

She sighed but didn't argue since she was aware that I wasn't lying. Honestly my situation couldn't even be considered uncommon amongst adventurers as more than a few act without considering the consequences of their actions.

Hell for most Amazon's this was the status quo in terms of actions as they were impulsive by nature. Sure they could control themselves to a degree with the right training and mindset but they rarely do. Perhaps I was needlessly reckless with my experiments but I didn't have much other choice if I wanted to fully understand my abilities and the world I was in. Mine was a situation in which I had to personally verify what was true or not through trial and error. In this case I tested my cursed techniques effect on the spawning of monsters and paid for it when it pissed off the dungeon.-

I also totally deserved the punishment Hestia gave me as well since my reckless testing almost killed me. As my goddess she worries about me and the possibility of my actions ending in my death or worse. Oh yes there were things worse than death things like being crippled and thus watching your ambitions slip through your fingers helpless to stop it. Or perhaps the case of every single instance being one of pain, agony or despair. So yes there are fates worse than death and they are never a zero percent chance of happening.-

For adventurers that chance was uncomfortably high and she knew it. Admittedly I was not helping with my actions and couldn't blame her for basically putting me in time out.

"I was planning to head to the dungeon to grab some materials in a bit, nothing crazy just some minotaur hide and bones." I said changing the subject.

She looked surprised "why not the level three materials from the Great tree labyrinth?" She asked confused.

"Ah well I was going to do a bit of experimenting to see if I can get that expanded space bag idea of mine to work now that my original bags were destroyed." I explained honestly.

"I think I remember you saying something about that at some point but it was mostly technical babble and went over my head ." She said with a shrug.

"Yeah that was my bad to think you'd understand something like that but at the very least you know what I'm after. I count that as a win." I say with a grin.

"Still think it's confusing, like how do you make more space fit in a smaller area?" She complained.

I just chuckled at that but didn't bother trying to explain how exactly expanded space items worked in theory again. The last time I did she looked like a deer caught in the headlights, dazed and confused. After a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and potatoes I grabbed my new weapon and helm/mask before heading to the dungeon. I of course stopped by the hostess first since otherwise Syr would be mad at me.

"Oh? Finally stopped being grounded huh? Boredom must have been eating you alive right?" Syr asked teasingly when she saw me all geared up.

"Yeah yeah laugh it up about my misery but don't act like you have it much better on your "off" days. What do you do again? Oh right sit in your room looking down at the city with a glass of wine that has no effect on you." I shot back with a chuckle at her grimace at the mention of it.

She had long since explained how she pulled off her trick of becoming Syr and it really hammered home the craziness of the falna. See the way it works was that she had a member of her familia named Horn that had a unique skill that let her take on Freya's appearance and the opposite as well letting Freya take on her appearance. -

They shared a psychic link while this was going on thus sharing emotion's and to a degree thoughts. The catch was that this transformation had a cool down in simple terms that meant Freya had to stay home some days while Horn took her place at the hostess. On these days Freya was naturally bored to tears as she basically just lounged about all day. I had of course been invited to visit her during these days as well to alleviate her boredom but decided not to since the rest of her familia minus Ottar would be fucking LIVID if I did.-

I don't mean protectively either but straight up jealousy due to their obsession with her. Much as I considered them a bunch of simping fools I had to admit that the majority of them had enough power to be problematic if I made them any madder than I already had by simply befriending Freya. Anyways we chatted for a few minutes after that before Mama Mia started to glare and it was time to go for me.-

The dungeon square was as usual bustling with adventurers at this time of day as well as merchants advertising their wares in hopes of earning some Valis from newbies or the forgetful. Naturally they'd prefer powerful members of the second category since they'd have more to spend but they don't complain since money was money no matter how small. You could tell which of these merchants were new to the city or not by how they advertised as well. The vets made their offers loud enough to be heard but weren't really going out of their way to try and draw attention to themselves since they knew their target audience well.-

The new folks though were more nervous and desperate to impress and thus acted in a more eye-catching but also annoying manner as they made it far more personal than needed acting like they were trying to make friends rather than sell stuff. Sometimes this worked and others they got avoided like they were plagued. I personally hadn't bought anything from these merchants but knew that others made use of them simply out of convenience. Ignoring these merchants I headed into the dungeon and immediately felt it's perception lock on to me for but a moment as if to warn me against making trouble before it vanished.

'Yeah I know you are running out of patience for dealing with my shit, keep your panties from getting twisted I'm only here for materials this time.' I thought with a roll of my eyes at this.