Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Trip to the guild

I could tell that most of them had a similar issue at some point in the past from their reaction. It was sort of funny to me to be honest as they could each break me in half like I was made of cotton candy yet they had to suffer in a way I won't to get there. Not to say I couldn't relate though as I was quite the weeb on earth and had to my great shame tried to learn how to wield a sword at one point and failed miserably.-

Anyways we headed to the adventurers guild after that while a few of the familia left to set an order on supplies for their next departure from the city as they never stayed long. True to her word Ariande pointed out a few shops that would work out well for a newbie adventurer as we walked. She also pointed out a few buildings I should avoid since the stuff they sold was quite dangerous but not for the reason you might think.

"Soma wines are sold there, stuff has an extremely addictive quality to it. I've seen people get turned into husks from being unable to resist the urge to get more after trying it." She warned seriously.

She might as well have not said anything at all as the higher concentration of cursed energy on those buildings alone would have stopped me from checking them out. Cursed energy is literally powered by negative emotions like anger, grief, fear, doubt, greed, envy and so on so anywhere that has a lot of the stuff is probably best left alone. About halfway to the guild though I shivered as I felt a gaze land on me that felt different than normal, like all my secrets were laid bare before it.-

"Is it just me or does anyone else feel like they are being stared at right now?" I asked worriedly and Artemis looked concerned,

"It may be a god who specialized in souls, try to ignore it." She suggested and I complied though it was quite hard.

Getting stared at while feeling naked was highly uncomfortable and as a result tended to be hard to ignore. Thankfully it seemed to work as the gaze vanished just as fast as it appeared shortly after that.

"I thought gods couldn't use their powers here?" I asked confused. 

"We can't but if a god is powerful enough in a certain field they may be able to use unusual abilities despite being limited to a normal mortal body. In much the same way I myself am stronger whilst under moonlight and my brother Apollo is stronger during the day. Speaking of my brother you would do well to avoid him if you can, he is of peculiar tastes." Artemis explained and added a warning at the end.

"I will keep this in mind if I ever come across him in the future." I said with a nod.

We stopped briefly at a clothing store where they bought me a pair of boots, pants and a rough cloth shirt. It was a plain outfit but much better than what I was walking around in before this as I now actually looked fairly normal. Walking around with next to nothing on was an amazonian trait I didn't feel like copying for no reason. Shortly after that we made it to dungeon square which was a sort of wide open clearing around the entrance to the dungeon and Babel that had adventurers coming and going constantly.

Deodorant was unfortunately not a thing with adventurers so the whole area smelt of blood and sweat which made it quite the stench. To my earth born nose it was enough to make me grimace in disgust. A fact the Artemis familia noticed and made fun of me for. 

'Yeah definitely going to find an alchemist to create deodorant and popularize it in the future. Maybe like a powder that keeps the smell of a hard days delve in the dungeon from wafting off into the air?' I thought seriously as we approached the large building off to the side of the square with a huge sign hanging above the doors that read {Adventurers guild}.

Surprisingly the guild was very orderly and almost reminded me of a bank in a way as adventurers came in turned over their profits from the dungeon to a teller and then got paid the market rate for them. In a different part there were members of the guild helping adventurers with gear and preparation for going deeper in the dungeon. Over to the side was a large board with parchment nailed to it that had details on requests for adventurers going into the dungeon to complete.

The Artemis familia walked up to a counter and the teller a mature red head with large canine ears on the top of her her head smiled at them.

"Welcome back goddess Artemis! I take it you have completed the requests you took last time you were here?" she said in a polite and friendly manner. 

"Always miss Rose. This time we came across a bit of an anomaly on the way back while hunting in the forest. He seems to have been waylaid by bandits on his way to Orario and left in nothing more than a pair of shorts in the forest with a head wound that has robbed him of his memories." Artemis said while motioning to me.

"Alexander Drake, but I go by Alex a pleasure to meet you." I said with a smile after stepping forward.

"Rose Fannett, the pleasure is mine." she said politely before turning to Artemis again "I imagine you wish for the guild to help him until he can support himself or joins a familia?" she asked seriously.

Artemis nodded "He has already decided on becoming an adventurer so perhaps the easiest route would be to allow him to see a list of familias that are recruiting and set up an appointment with the god in charge of it. For lodging we can put him up at an inn room for at least a week but will be leaving again after that time." the goddess said calmly.

Rose nodded "Give me a moment to retrieve the list of recruiting familias." she said and walked away while we waited.

"What sort of familia are you hoping to get into?" Ariande asked me curiously.

"Hmm, probably one that would let me go into the dungeon by myself. I have a feeling that I won't play well on a team." I said honestly.

"Sounds like a small familia might be best then, most gods tend to advocate teams if they can and only a small familia would lack the personage to do so. I am surprised that you would want to risk solo diving though, it's not advised for a reason." Rethusa said sternly.

I shrugged "Nothing for it my gut says it wouldn't turn out very good and I am inclined to agree, it seems to know what it's doing so far after all." I said with grin.