3 Chapter 2

A/N My dear readers, after consulting with someone more knowledgeable about the Danmachi world, certain things had been changed in the story, go back to read the chapter so you won't be confused.

***Percy pov***

Percy and Annabeth had received a pair of fresh clothes as soon as they entered the tavern, Percy had received a simple linen black shirt, and a pair of brown wool pants, while Annabeth had worn one of the outfits the waitresses had worn.

It was a busy night as more and more patrons entered, amongst them, Percy noticed several people that emitted a feeling of special power around them, despite looking totally human at first glance, but Percy had known better after years of being hunted by the supernatural.

These were Gods, he did not yet know which ones, but he had a feeling that he would soon learn, so eight now he'd go back to help out in cleaning after yet another patron made a mess.

One of the waitresses had bent over to help him out, but then an already drunk patron decided to grab her from behind, and he was laughing at her expression.

Seeing this, Percy quickly grabbed the man and said, "you're done, you're done," and at hearing that, the patron started to complain, but then Percy said, "I'll give you two options, either you walk out there on your own, or I'll help you leave, your choice," he said the last part while sending a death glare at the man, which killed any fighting spirit the patron had.

He then said, "ok, ok, I'll walk on my own." As Percy let go of him, he started to walk away from him, she had light gray hair and eyes, and she was human as far as Percy knew, she turned towards him and said, "T-thank you, but I could've handled him you …"

Percy shook his head and said, "it's not a problem, my mother taught me to never let this kind of thing go by next to me if I can do something about it."

She giggled at that and said, "she sounds great," Percy smiled sadly, remembering that he will never see his mother again, and said, "yeah, she was…" then he extended his hand and said, "I'm Percy by the way."

The girl took his hand and eagerly shook it while saying, "Syr, it's nice to meet you, Percy."

After they shook hands, Percy heard a loud yell from the kitchen calling him, "Percy! Get over here!" he winced at that, too many bad memories of his name being shouted like that, but he complied anyway, and went to the kitchen, in it, was Annabeth, and a stocky short woman, but Percy could tell that she was full of muscles.

She looked at him and asked, "is it true you threw a patron out of my tavern?" she asked while her hands were crossed on her chest.

Percy nodded his head and said, "yes Ma'am."

But then Syr jumped and said, "it was my fault! You see, I was cleaning, and suddenly this guy was grabbing me from behind, and before I knew it, Percy grabbed him, and threw him out."

The woman looked at Percy and asked, 'is this true?"

He nodded his head and said, "yes Ma'am, I couldn't let that creep get away with what he did to her, I was taught better by my mother."

She sighed at hearing that, but then she flashed a smile and said, "you know what Percy? You're alright, listen, from now on, I want you to keep an eye out for anyone who lets himself misbehave around my girls, you got that?"

Percy answered yet again with, "yes ma'am!"

Then when the kitchen cleared, he was left with Annabeth who smiled at him, and he couldn't help but ask, "what?"

"Oh nothing, I'm just really proud of you that's all." And then she proceeded to kiss him before going back out there, living Percy with the goofiest grin on his lips.

The rest of the night was uneventful, after what Percy had done with the drunken Patron, the rest had learned to keep their hands to themselves, but Percy's presence sure helped to remind them of it.

It was close to midnight when they started to close the tavern, all the people who had just come to eat and drink started making their way back home, supported by their friends as the ale was too much for their heads.

Percy and Annabeth were now making their way after a girl with black cat ears and tail who had led them to their room for the night.

"There you go meow, here are your keys meow (A/N I really suck at anime cat girl sounds, if any one of you could give an example of how to write it, that will be great, and I'll edit it in.) have a good night!"

"Good night, and thank you!" Annabeth said, as they opened the door, and entered the room, as soon as they both touched the mattress, they both just collapsed to sleep, and something weird happened that night, for the first time in years, Percy had a dreamless sleep.

***Next morning***

Percy and Annabeth had woken up from their sleep, at first, they were confused as to the situation they were now in, but then memories slowly started to flood their way back to them, and they soon started to get ready for dealing with their temporarily new employer.

As they made their way down, Percy saw Syr talk to the same white hair kid that he had saved from the Minotaur the day before, he now had a fresh change of clothes, and at the end, Syr seemed to gift him with a small lunch box full of her cooking.

He smirked to himself as he realized that she most likely had a crush on the boy, so he did not say a word as he saw her make her way back inside the tavern, and instead was now making his way to meet the owner of the establishment mama Maia herself.

He and Annabeth had entered the kitchen, and they saw her standing there, arms crossed and she said, "well, I've got to admit that I was not too thrilled having hungry and dirty people from the street that I don't know come and work for me out of the blew, but you two certainly proven yourselves worth it.

I had thought about what I saw last night, and I was wondering, how about you two will remain here a little longer? You can live here and pay for it by working here, what do you think?"

Percy had looked at Annabeth, they both could use it, but they did not want to be stuck in one place if they wanted to get to the root of how the world was changed so much by Gaia.

Annabeth, ever the wise girl had said, "sorry, we very much appreciate it, but we would need to think about it, you see, we did not plan on staying in Orario for very long, we might even head out to Meren soon, and after that, we might even go to Altena."

Mama Maia looked disappointed at that, but did not argue and said, "well, you take your time thinking about this, but know that we would be very glad to have you two around here, in the meantime, if you're not planning on leaving us so soon, we could use you guys here."

Seeing nothing wrong with that, they had decided to stay and help out, after they had breakfast of course, and to Percy's disappointment, there were no blue pancakes, but he powered through with how good the food tasted, he might have to teach them how to make blue foods though.

***Bell pov***

Bell was in the Dungeon, he was just killing the last Kobold on the fourth floor, last night his goddess had updated his status, so he had more power and agility to fight back against those monsters.

He was picking up the magic stone the Kobolt had dropped and put it in his bag when he was reminded of the day before, of how that mystery man saved him after bursting out of the wall.

And then while peaking up all the magic stones he said to himself, "at the rate I'm going, I wonder how long it will take me to catch up to miss Ais, and Percy…" he added as an afterthought.

"miss Eina had told me it's important to build experience but I- uh?" he stopped as he saw what he was holding in his hand, a Kobolt fang.

"it dropped an item." He said, then as he put it in his bag he said, "lucky me!" but then he knew he jinxed himself as he heard the walls cracking behind him.

As he turned around, he saw several kobolts exiting from the walls, they were snarling and bearing their teeth at him.

He stepped back a little, he gulped, and said, "there's so many of them!"

As he pulled out his trusted knife, he said to himself, "I want to run, but then I…" he let that hang as he saw a mental image of both Ais and Percy, and then, with a blushing face of excitement he said, "yeah, I've got to give it a shot! Ahhh!!!!" as he ran headfirst towards the pack of Kobolts.

Later

"ah hahahaha!!!" Bell half laughed, half gasped as he saw his stats on the parchment after his goddess had updated his status.

"Goddess Hestia, are you sure this is right? My experience level, I-It's over 1.60 now!" he then turned towards her as she was facing with her back turned towards him.

"I only took one hit from those monsters, and my endurance jumped up to almost 30! My strength and skill went up too! That's never happened before!"

But he didn't know, that Hestia was pouting the whole time, then abruptly, she got up from the bed, and she slumped her head and shoulders, and Bell couldn't help but ask as he reached his hand towards her, "G-G-Goddess?"

She then turned her head towards him, now showing her pouting face, and he blinked in surprise at that, so then he tried talking again, "well I… just…" he stopped for a moment as he saw the tears welling up in her eyes as the pout remained.

A sweat drop was on his cheek as he continued, "I'm curious!" then he asked, "do you know why? Why my stats started increasing so fast?" then he lifted his index finger and continued while closing his eyes, and said, "Maybe?-" she then cut him off by saying harshly.

"I don't know! Who cares!?" as she opened her closet and put on her coat.

"what's wrong?" bell asked, oblivious, and Hestia proceeded to slam the closet door, and then she started to stomp out and Bell said, "goddess, wait are you going somewhere?" she stopped, filled her lungs with air, and shouted, "I have to open up the food Cart!" then she turned towards him, pointed a finger and started to rant, "I mean since you can everything all by yourself now, why don't you have dinner all by yourself too!" she then proceeded to storm off, leaving behind a baffled Bell who just asked the now empty space, "what the heck did I say?"

Seeing as he had no other means, and as he had made good enough money today, Bell had decided to keep the promise he gave the tavern girl earlier that day.

So with that, Bell had started putting his shirt back on and making his way there.

Percy pov

He and Annabeth had decided to work this Night's shift, it was similar to the one the night before, only this time, Percy had stood near the Bar, eyes looking at all the patrons, making sure they all behaved.

Some, he noticed, were whispering amongst themselves at the mere sight of him, clearly remembering his actions from the night before, and probably warning their friends not to do anything to gain his wrath.

The sea Demigod then noticed Syr just outside the door, talking to someone, he could not hear her words, but then he noticed that she bowed her head, and saw the distinctive white hair and a pair of red eyes, and he immediately recognized him, it was the boy he saved in the dungeon.

He decided to not be noticed by the boy, as he remembered his reaction to him when he first saw him in the dungeon, so instead, he started to walk around the tavern.

He noticed the boy sitting at the bar, When Mama Maia herself gave him a plate filled with enormous amounts of food, and judging by his reaction, he was not prepared for that, then between the conversation, he had with Mama Maia, and then he saw him starting to calculate the bill in his head, and then he saw him shrink in his seat as Mama Maia gave him the special, then he heard him say, "I did not ordered that!"

He did not listen to her reaction as he noticed something else, a group of guys one of the girls was serving were drinking a bit too much that night, so he was making sure they were behaving, when all of a sudden he heard the boy exclaim loudly, "800 valis

!? that's crazy!"

He turned and saw Syr talking to him, and judging by his reaction, Percy had felt sorry for him, he saw the boy eat his meal as Syr talked, the music was playing in the tavern, people were eating and drinking Marylee.

But then the front door opened, and the whole tavern had gone silent, of course, he recognized that a goddess was walking in, but she was accompanied by a strange and diverged group of people, a pair of tanned skin twins, a werewolf, two elves, a dwarf and of course, the same blonde he met at the dungeon.

He heard the boy gasp as he saw her as well, and at that moment he was glad he chose to not be in his sight.

Then he heard mumbling from the people next to him, "yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!"

"look at the emblem you dummy! That's the Loki Familia."

Then another voice said, "they're the ones who kill giants man."

"yeah you better watch your mouth, that's the sword princess." Another voice said, referring to the blonde he met at the dungeon.

He saw that the boy was now sporting a tomato-red expression on himself, and he couldn't help but smirk at that.

But now he had another thing to worry about, in all his years of fighting, Percy had developed a sixth sense for danger, and that sense was zeroing in on the red-headed goddess, who he now guessed was Loki, which was funny since last he checked, Loki was male, but hey what did he know?

Anyway, he now went to Mama Maia and asked, "psst, Mama Maia? Does this Loki Familia have ever gave you trouble?"

She looked at him funny and said, "Loki? Not that I can recall… why?"

"well, I get this feeling from Loki herself, like she's trouble."

She smirked at him and said, "oh she's trouble alright, but no god would dare make trouble in my establishment."

Now he was curious at that and asked, "oh really? Is that so?"

She nodded her head and said, "They know better than to do that, for their own good." And she looked at him with a stere that basically said, "no more questions."

Then he heard the Goddess speak for the first time, "alright guys! You really kicked that dungeon's ass, so tonight we feast! Eat! Drink! And get drunken!"

"woo hoo!" they all exclaimed as they all bumped their drinks together, just then Percy noticed the music had returned to play as if they were waiting for that exact moment.

He heard them congratulating each other for the dungeon run, he then saw the goddess trying to sneak up on the sword princess, an expression of total lewdness written all over her face, the only reason he didn't step in because he saw the sword princess punch her goddess on the head, leaving a bulging bump on it.

He held in a laugh, just then he noticed that one of the girls that were waiting on them was Annabeth, he simply winked at her when she looked at him, but then he heard them talking, and his blood boiled.

The werewolf slammed his mug and said, "hey! Ais! It's about time you told everybody what happened the other day! It was freaking hilarious!"

Then sword princess asked, "And what story is that?"

"Come on! You know what I'm talking about, all those damn minotaurs got loos, you told me you went down to finish off the last on the fifth floor right?" as he asked, he crouched down like a wolf waiting to pounce on a pray.

"You had to same that tomato dumbass?" at that, Percy noticed the boy was tensing in his seat, a little gasp came out of his mouth.

Then he heard the werewolf continues, "anyways, so there's some little pansy running around in there? And this big ugly sucker starts chasing him right? So Ais jumps in, and start cutting the thing to pieces when a man burst out of the wall and finishes the job for her! And the little woos gets absolutely covered in blood! Dude looks like a big old stupid tomato!" then he and the rest of the table began to laugh their asses off.

Percy notices the boy's shoulders start to tremble, he was obviously holding in a cry, and that just made him angrier, and then the werewolf keeps going, "and then checks this out, then tomato guy runs out screaming and freaking out his head off! The dumbass ups and runs away from the two who saved him!" then he laughs harder while banging his hand on his leg armor.

And then he adds, "what a pathetic jackass! Hahahahahah!" then the word princess weekly said, "I'm not so sure he could be blamed for any of that."

But Percy, hearing that from the sad, was starting to make his way to the table when he heard the green-haired elf speak, "that would be quite enough out of you Bet! The monsters only escaped the seventeenth floor because of our mistake, it wasn't the kid's fault, don't even try-"

But she was cut off when the werewolf slammed his hand on the table exclaiming, "WHAT!? The idiot bit off more than he could chew trying to be a hero!" Percy then noticed that at this point the boy didn't notice him, and was clenching his hand n an attempt to control his emotions, and then the werewolf, that Percy now knew was named Bet, continued, "Just ask Ais! She knows what I'm talking about, Tell her the truth! Who's the more big, strong, and handsome hero around here? Me or that scrawny tomato turd?"

Then a small child by the looks of him held his hands in a placating matter, and then he spoke, "ah.. Bet? I think you might be drunk." He spoke, stating a fact that now made Percy aware of the werewolf condition, and those, not entirely responsible for his behavior, but not entirely did not mean not at all.

And Percy could not take the man insulting a victim under his watch.

"I asked you a question Ais!" the drunk werewolf said loudly, with his drunken slur now audible to the rest of the patrons in the tavern.

He was yelling now when Percy cut him off, "what would you do if that kid walked to you and said he had the hots for ya?! I'm sure you would tell him to get lost right? I mean you wouldn't waste your time with some cryba-" but then Percy had put his hand on the werewolf's shoulder and said, "I believe you said enough, now please, quiet down."

The werewolf gave him a stare that would've scared most people away by the mere look of it, but Percy was not most people, he had seen far scarier things in his life as a demigod.

The werewolf then spoke, "buddy, if you want to keep that hand, I suggest you let go of me, NOW."

At those words, Percy's hand went inside his pocket, grasping at the sword in pen shape, but then he said, "funny, if you think that should have intimidated me."

Then he heard the sword princess speak, "wait… I know you, you are the man who killed the last minotaur after bursting out of the wall! Percy… right?"

At that, everyone at the table, Bet included, had watched him with eyes wide, and while that happened, Percy felt the boy running away from the Tavern in shame, and he saw that just then Ais noticed he was there.

He turned his attention back to them, and then said, "and what if I am? And by the way, I never caught your name miss?"

She was shaken out of her stupper and said, "Ais, Ais Wallenstein." He nodded his head towards her in respect, and then he felt Annabeth's hand on his back, and her look had him exhaling through his nose and he said while letting go of the werewolf's shoulder, "now, please do not disturb the other patrons of this establishment, if you can't be quiet, I would have to ask you to leave."

That seemed to have ticked off the werewolf who said, "now listen here you piece of-" but he was cut off by the Child in fancy clothing, "I think we overstayed our welcome for the night, let us go back home." As they grabbed and dragged the werewolf back with them out of the tavern.

Just then, Percy noticed the red-headed goddess lingering in the doorway, looking at him, a wild smirk on her face, as she said, "Percy huh? I will remember that." As she exited herself.

Percy had let out a massive sigh, and he turned towards Annabeth, who looked at him concerned, and he just said, "that's ok, I'M ok wise girl." She just caresses his cheek, and then they went back to work in the tavern.

Luckily for them, none of the other patrons nor the staff had heard what was said, for they all were really busy minding their own business after the werewolf became threatening, if anything, they seemed to fear Percy even more now.

-great…- he thought to himself as he went back to finish helping out.

After they were finished for the night, Percy couldn't stop thinking about the kid and how he reacted to what was told, and that tore in his heart, and he kept wishing he meddled earlier in the conversation, but that was something he would have to deal with tomorrow.

The next morning Percy and Annabeth rose up early, in order to help clean up the place for the night batch.

He was outside, cleaning when he saw him, and his heart almost dropped, he was covered in blood from head to toe, he was barely walking, and he was basically dead on his feat.

As soon as he went closer to Percy, his knees buckled, luckily Percy was there to catch him before he hit the ground and he said, "wow wow there buddy, let's get you home alright?"

But then something weird happened when he put his hand on the Boy's back, he felt it, he felt her.

"Percy?" he heard Annabeth's voice, and he saw her at the door next to him.

"He needs help wise girl, he needs to get home." As soon as those words had left his mouth, the boy stirred and just mumbled, "home… goddess…Hestia."

Both Percy and Annabeth took a double take on that, and without another word, Annabeth came to the Boy's other side, and both of them held him up.

The kid was basically the one letting them know where to turn, and where to go. Soon enough, they were nearing a rundown old church, Percy was not sure if the boy was ok at that point, he wouldn't have ruled out concussion at this point, but then he saw her.

She was standing there, completely horrified at the looks of the boy, she looked like a child, but Percy knew better, she was a Goddess, his favorite one, Hestia.

She ran towards them, worry etched on her flawless features, she called out, "Bell!" and as she has gotten closer, just then she seemed to notice them, and as she saw him, her eyes widen, and one thing came out of her mouth.

"Percy…"

He smiled at her and said, "hello Hestia, I think we need to talk."

A/N hey there guys, I'm back with another chapter.

Sorry it took me so long to update, but life has gotten in the way, but I powered through for you guys.

So, let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section, and how I can improve the plot

Until next time, you guys are awesome!

BookwormJohnny2 out!