Danmachi – Infinite Mana System

[Chapter Size: 2461 Words.]
Lucius POV
Twenty-Second Floor, Dungeon.

...

...

After dealing with the unfortunate Heimdall family, Lucius continued his journey, moving through the floors peacefully, with only monsters and his newfound companion for company.

"Sorry!" He apologized to a goblin beside him, clearly hurt by what he had done.

"HEEE!" The small creature protested.

"Yes, I swear I'll never do that again! I was angry at that moment."

"HEE."

"I know, I know."

A silence settled as we walked until Riekling spoke again.

"HEEEEE?" After a while, my goblin companion spoke up again.

"About them? I don't know how those bastards got so bold, but I hope my message was crystal clear, and they don't want to bother us anymore."

"HEEEE!?"

"If they come back and attack me? I will indeed send them all to hell if there's no choice!" I protested, making it clear. I hope they take care of their own lives; otherwise, I'll fulfill my promises.

"Heeee?"

"Why didn't I kill them there? Simple, it was Heimdall himself who sent them. If I eliminate them, they'll know it was me and retaliate against me and the people I know seeking revenge. I can handle that, but Bell and the others? I doubt that even with all the gods trying to protect him and his connections, he'll survive a joint attack from that family seeking vengeance," I explained.

"Heee..."

"Yes, imagine finding out that your group/companions/children were murdered. I know a woman who sought revenge and wiped out few families alone. We have to set limits; it's one thing to kill a random group in the dungeon, but in this situation, I have to consider the consequences," Lucius said calmly.

"HEE!"

"Anyway, it seems we have to deal with Apollo now. I want to reach level 3 before the war game; my stats are doing well so far, after intense training in the last 10 days."

"HEE."

"Yes, let's spend some time on the surface to see how things are before we return here."

"Heee."

"Hm? About them, I don't know..."

"HEEEEEEEEE!"

"What? Of course not. Do you think I'm afraid of the Elf after what happened?"

"HE HE HE."

"Don't mock, you know the last time we met, she was falling for my charms."

"HEEEE."

"That was just an accident! I knew how concerned she was for me after I passed out; we were just in a friendly fight when I accidentally fainted..." I tried to lie to Riekling, but the goblin still looked at me with suspicious and unconvinced eyes.

"HE!"

"Those wounds were just scratches! Riviera and I have a date, and I'm not afraid to see her, so don't make fun of it!" I said, closing the subject, then continued our way to Rivira.

Internally, of course, I'm a bit cautious. Honestly, I think I overreacted last time; I hope Riviera is still available to give me some magic lessons after our little conflict because I'm sure that will open doors to new skills with the knowledge learned from her.

"Skills and my future wife! Two in one." I exclaimed loudly with this thought and a big smile.

"HEEE?"

"Forget what I said, I'm just thinking out loud."

So, we proceeded to the eighteenth floor, passing through the entire insect and root area. When I reached the city, I entered calmly and sold enough to replenish some stock, enough to go to the surface, and left the crystals I didn't use in the system to sell on the surface, where it's more profitable.

Passing through all the floors, a few hours later, we arrived at the guild with me, dressed as a mage, and a big smile on my face, and Riekling, with a backpack full of high-quality crystals.

"Miss Rose!" I said with an excited smile as I entered the main hall of the guild and greeted the werewolf woman, after she rejected 20 love confessions with her stoic face.

"HEE!"

"Lucius? Hello, Riekling!" She greeted and continued to look at me for a while before speaking again.

"Where have you been? Even your family asked about you at the guild." She said with a neutral voice, still a bit angry due to the last incident.

"I was in training, even though I spent more time in the dungeon than expected..." I said, scratching my head.

"Did something happen?" I asked a bit worried after seeing her serious look.

"Besides you somehow becoming famous, and everyone talking about the adventurer responsible for destroying the crystal in Rivira? Nothing, except having to answer some questions about you or your whereabouts for some curious ones, since the information about your ascension to level 2 is public now..." She said with an empty look.

"I'm sorry for that... You must be under pressure... But I can't promise things will get better. In fact, I believe everything will turn even more chaotic soon, hehehe." I said nervously under the stoic gaze of that fox, which seemed like a challenge to see if my words were true.

"But then, my old family asked about me, right? I'd like to know what they wanted...". I continued speaking and asked something I knew happened; they wouldn't try to ambush me without getting some information.

Rose looked at me for a few seconds and said seriously, something that indicated the seriousness of the situation.

"Heimdall himself came with his captain, asked all sorts of things, your growth, movements, whereabouts, address, amount of stones obtained, your status..." She said, and I didn't like any of it.

"It seems that bastard is quite bold now..." I said thinking out loud.

"I wouldn't use such bold words about a God, but yes, I agree with you..." She said without letting go of her serious look and added.

"But of course, I have limits to disclose information, and I can be convincing even to a persistent God." She finished.

"Thank you for that once again, Rose. That God expelled me from his family, and now suddenly he's investigating me as if I had fled that family in the first place." I said with a bit of anger, still remembering Carina's threatening words to me, Hestia, and the others.

"He was never a God I liked, similar to your friend." She said; it's no secret to anyone that Heimdall and Apollo are quite close, always having meetings together.

"So, do you have some magic stones? Anyway, it's good to see you, and be careful with your ex-God, as there are rumors about Hestia and her ascension now." She finished, and I thanked her once again as I bid farewell.

Ignoring the stares people here started giving me after a while of talking with Rose and recognizing me, I went to the magic stone exchange room.

I sold the vast majority of the stones to buy spells in the system, so I got 200,000 valis for now to hand over to Hestia as a family tax, but it's not enough. Still, it's something I'll have to owe her and solve in the future, knowing she'll understand my situation.

...
...

Some time later, the famous abandoned church appeared in our field of vision as Riekling and I approached.

"I'm home!" It was late afternoon when I arrived at the location to meet Hestia, Bell, and Welf.

"LUCIUS!" Hestia shouted, showing her face after stretching her neck out of the room when she heard my voice.

"We're back..." I said, sighing as I approached.

"HEEE!"

"Lord Lucius! Lord Riekling!" Bell exclaimed.

"Hello Lucius, Riekling." Welf, who was also here, appeared beside Bell.

"YOU'VE BEEN AWAY FOR SO MANY DAYS! WERE YOU IN THE DUNGEON ALL THIS TIME?" Hestia shouted before I could say anything to the others.

"It's true, but I'm much stronger now!" I said, flexing my arm like a bodybuilder as I pulled it out of my cloak.

"OHHH!" Bell was excited about this; he must have trained on the intermediate floors in these last few days as well.

"So, are you guys going out?" I asked, seeing Bell and Welf in clothes that indicated a small outing in the bustling city of Orario during its nighttime.

"Indeed, we're going out for a bit. Why don't you come with us?" Welf said.

"Well, that would be interesting. I accept and will change then." I said, grabbing some clothes from my belongings. I agreed to go out with them to witness the bar brawl event; today was when things would start with the Apollo family. I had a sadistic smile, thinking about how I would truly beat those bastards this time. Apollo doesn't need to fabricate a story for the gods to claim his family got beaten up; I'll do him a favor and turn his accusation into something true.

Grabbing a slightly dirty and torn outfit that had been lying around for a while, I cast spells to mend and clean it. Without waiting much, the night arrived, and I went out with the guys to drink with them, while Hestia would stay at the church tonight with Riekling keeping her company.

"How were the last few days?" I asked to make small talk as we walked through the city, which was beginning to reach its nightly peak of activity.

"Basically, we trained in the dungeon and found out that we somehow became a bit famous." Bell said with a bit of embarrassment.

"Well, specifically, you became quite famous, buddy. People ask about you, and even some specific dwarves are cautious about you in my family..." Welf said with a smile.

"I noticed the attention, and I'm glad those little men still remember me..." I said with a wicked smile.

"Even Finn showed up at the church..." Bell added.

"That's interesting already; what does the Loki family want with me?" I asked, and I was sure that if Riekling were here, he would mock me.

"He asked about your whereabouts and left a message that Riviera would like to talk to you." He said, and I was a bit surprised. Despite boasting to my goblin, I kind of expected her to be angry with me still, canceling anything we agreed upon after what happened. But I'm relieved that I can still get some magic lessons with the elven princess.

"Anyway, Hestia-sama will talk to you tomorrow." He added.

"So, I'll wait for her to understand the situation, and by the way, I brought the materials for my sword, Welf. Hermes said he would buy them, but I didn't see him." I changed the subject; I spent days fighting on those floors, got the materials, they were with Riekling, but I couldn't give them to the blacksmith before going out for drinks, so I'll have to wait to deliver them tomorrow.

"About that... Asfi Al Andromeda came to my workshop these days when you were away and handed me the material..." He said, and I was surprised as we walked.

"Well, this is unexpected, but having a second reserve weapon wouldn't hurt anyway," I clarified, as I could have a backup weapon now.

"Great, if you want, drop by my workshop tomorrow to pick up your sword and deliver the other materials," he said, and I nodded.

We arrived at a bar that Welf wanted to take us to; if it were Bell choosing, Mama Mia would have 3 more customers tonight, or 4, because a small Pallum appeared at the entrance waiting for us.

"You're late!" Lili said with crossed arms in frustration.

"We're not that late, Lili!" Welf teased.

"Sorry, sorry," Bell apologized.

"Hello, Lord Lucius!"

"Hello, Lili."

After that, we entered the bar. We started with a quiet night here, sitting and drinking, entertained in our own conversation as the hours passed.

While we were in our own conversation, I observed the surroundings, saw some familiar faces in this place; people looked at us, whispering about the recent events, finding it quite normal due to the history of the people sitting at this table.

This lasted until I noticed a new group arriving and sitting a few tables away, obviously following Bell all the time and passing information to Apollo and his family in these last few days. So the captain and that damn Pallum appeared here with other people, as in the original story, along with a certain level 5 dog sitting at the counter, drinking calmly but could feel his frustration when he looked at us from time to time.

My companions didn't care about the group or their surroundings, just focusing on their own business, even under the discreet glances people were giving us, especially this new group.

This lasted for another two hours...

The conversation revolved around how Bell was close to leveling up when the Pallum from that group left the table and walked towards ours with an air of arrogance after hearing this conversation. I narrowed my eyes at the man and waited for him to start with his irritating remarks.

"What? Almost level 3?" He announced, catching all my companions by surprise and making everyone in the bar look at the small hobbit who made the comment.

"Hmm??"

"I don't care if they call you a record holder or something, but you shouldn't try to deceive people all the time."

"A rabbit that only runs away from monsters, simply running away and leveling up and now is close to reaching level 3 in such a short time?"

His comments were highly irritating, but I stayed quiet.

"I would be ashamed to leave the house."

"Ignore that, Bell-Sama."

"Oh, yes."

"Look, almost everyone on the team is from different families, a failed blacksmith, a shorty for support, and another liar claiming to be a powerful mage who destroyed part of the safe zone."

"I guess that's a perfect group for cheaters."

'Calm down, Lucius, let's give everyone a lesson in a short time...' I thought while holding the firebolt forming in my hand, knowing that I am a quite impulsive person, even with the odds against me.

"HAHAHAHAHA" All the men in the Apollo family uniform began to laugh at these comments.

"There's not much to say; the family of these liars is the weakest of all, after all."

"But that's because this family is led by a goddess, without dignity and authority; she's only good for those big boobs."

"TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID!" Bell stood up, irritated.

"Got upset because what I said was true, huh?" He was a bit startled by the outburst but quickly resumed mocking.

"She lets her children associate with members of another family, while they spread lies about absurd things..."

Before he could continue, Welf threw his mug at that little Pallum's face.

"Oh? Sorry, my hand slipped..." He said, mocking.

"You bastard!" Members of the Apollo family stood up to fight, and Lili could only sigh as everyone went into a brawl at that moment. I stood still for now.

"They can handle these guys..." I thought as I watched the show.

And I didn't watch the spectacle without drinking my drink.

It didn't take long for the fight to end with Welf and Bell finishing them off.

"Anyone else want a beating!?" Welf shouted.

"I do." Said the last member of the Apollo family, their level 4 captain, a quite arrogant man who sat the whole time while his companions fought.

He quickly used his level 3 agility and punched Welf; in the next moment, he delivered two punches to Bell, catching him by the neck right after.

"I expected more from you, Little Rookie..." He mocked.

"He's from the Apollo family!" Some spectator commented.

"Yes, he's Phoebus Apollo, Hyakinthos!"

"A level 3?"

"You hurt my companions; now you must pay!" Said Hyakinthos.

But before he could tighten his grip on Bell's neck, he felt heat on his right side; when he turned, a fireball collided directly with his face.

*Flames*

*Boom*

"AHHHH!" Hyakinthos's surprised scream left everyone stunned as a spell flew straight into the face of the Apollo family captain.

Bell fell to the ground, while everyone turned to see who cast the spell, of course, there I was, with my legs crossed on the table, displaying a sadistic smile while drinking my last sip of beer, with one hand pointed to where the spell was cast.

No one said anything, while the man hit by the fire had his face covered in smoke.

"Well, well, you hurt my companions, what price must you pay... I wonder?" I said arrogantly, standing up from the table and using his own words against him.

"Lucius-Sama?" Lili said beside herself with astonishment.

"YOU!! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!" The captain growled with evident hatred on his slightly burnt face.

"Come, show me that your family is more than just a group in heat, living in an orgy with that disgusting God of yours." I openly mocked.

My words shocked everyone; no one mocked or disrespected a god. It took a certain kind of boldness to do that, and here I am, speaking ill of their god. I wasn't afraid of Apollo.

"YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" The man couldn't contain his anger anymore as he advanced to attack me.

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