Story 13 Paladin of Shadows Chapter 1

My eye twitched seeing my counterpart's weak smile and I slowly ground out. "How about no?" 

But my counterpart who apparently went through Danmachi himself spoke cajoolingly. "Come on Jake, live a little. I am willing to throw in a major bonus for you accepting this." 

I firmly raised my hands up in an X across my chest but he rolled his eyes and then stated bluntly. "Dude, either you accept the deal or they get yeeted out into the void. The Company is using Jake's and other multiversal organizations as recycling plants for their expiring clone banks. So either you join up with Freya in her new Familia before she can even be the Thot Queen, or they get the boot into the void as we cannot hold any more of these damned clones!"

My sponsor's face was damn near manic as he pulled up a tablet and began scrolling through it and as he scrolled through it. I got to see on a wall projector the videos of massive storage areas filled with mind-boggling amounts of tubes that had clones of waifus inside the tubes.

"We have theoretically infinite Jake's to draw upon... But we literally only have so many Jake's of power or currently being reincarnated, and those bastards just keep printing out more damned clones! Like why the hell are they printing out so many damned Vados when she is a universe-level threat and then just sticking her blue ass in a tube!" He screamed and I awkwardly just sat there as he pinched his forehead.

But eventually I took a breath and said with utter seriousness. "Hestia is the one true goddess of Danmachi." 

And my counterpart gave me a dirty look as he drily retorted. "Of course she is... And nothing is saying you cannot use your new cheat to earn her favor as well. But frankly with the timeline alteration of Freya entering Gekai in the canon era instead of back during the times of Zeus and Hera Familia. She won't be considered a Thot and won't even have a Familia, as the goal is to insert you and your partners into her Familia at its inception."

I finally nodded as the package he was offering was truthfully worth it so I asked the more pressing question. "What about my care package... The Seven Shadows of Shadow Garden, how will they treat me honestly?" 

There was a slight pause as he typed into the tablet and then on the screen came the group's details making me hum as I read through the details. Which could be summed up as. The waifu catalog agent sent into the world of The Eminence in Shadow, as the Insert-Cid had captured all the canon waifus of which he then sold them all directly to the Company as he apparently didn't like elves or beastkin.

"Anyway, the girls will be bound to you in the typical fashion with them heaping all the love and devotion they would give that sociopath Cid they typically would have given to him. Either way here is your cheat first of all." He said and then before I could react I gagged feeling my chest seemingly cave in as my counterpart shoved a massive glowing book into my chest before ripping his hand out of my chest while I frantically checked my chest for scars or anything... But even my torn-up shirt was visibly restoring back to normal.

"So the reason I want you to join the Freya directly. Is frankly the majority of Jake's avoid her ass like the plague she can be, but typically end up fucking her anyway after learning that with their powerful reincarnated souls Freya is basically a beautiful woman with the attention of a goldfish, you just hook her in and then keep her content with mind breaking sex." My sponsor said and at this point as my mind downloaded the details of my cheat.

I understood another point of what he wanted. "Freya as a goddess has a domain over warriors, death, magic, and other powerful things... Whereas Hestia only has the domains I could contract being over family and the Hearthfire which may not be combat applicable." I finished and he nodded his head towards me with a smile.

"Indeed, except for that one weird Jake who got sent to Danmachi and joined Miach due to his major dog-girl fetish. Every single one of the rest of the Jake's are men of culture so you are going to join a goddess's familia without a doubt. And with your cheat, Freya's domains are the best combat domains you could access honestly." My counterpart explained and my lips twitched as I imagined some version of myself trying to go after the Miach Familia Captain in Naaza who was a dog beastkin.

Either way I finally nodded and said wryly. "Alright, alright I agree. If this fresh Freya just came down from Tenkai without a Familia, I will give it a chance. In the worst case I can always switch Familia's after a year." I finished with a shrug and my counterpart nodded as he clapped his hands with a loud hissing noise popping up as from the floor came seven tubes.

Each obviously filled with a member of the Seven Shadows of Shadow Garden. But as the tubes unsealed slowly I had a pressing question hit my mind and I asked my sponsor. "Wait if Freya has just arrived in Orario, then who replaced her as queen of Orario?" I asked with a small frown as I knew Freya was involved greatly in the important parts of restoring peace to the current modern Orario.

My counterpart gave me a look before shrugging. "Ehh not much of a spoiler I guess, but the Goddess Inari with her domain over Renards became the new overlady of Orario with her ability to help Renards grow as her divinity blessing their Falna increases their growth naturally due to her and Amaterasu actually making the race from the get-go."

I couldn't help but stare at my counterpart who shrugged and said evenly. "Hey... It's not fair, but it's not like the creator gods of other races except for Kali get involved with their races to begin with in canon. So expect some shenanigans as Ouranos doesn't give a damn so long as it doesn't affect his efforts to keep the dungeon under control."

But before any more words could be spoken the tubes had finally fully opened and the Seven Shadows of Shadow Garden stirred with their deep awakening being broken with Alpha the blond-haired blue-eyed elf opening her eyes to take in our surroundings before landing on me.

Even as the other Shadow Garden members woke up... Except for Eta who was now soundly snoring instead of being in suspended animation, I took in the girl's appearances as Delta the black-haired wolf beastkin hopped out of the tube while pulling at her tight-fitting suit that covered her form before she visibly paused and sniffed the air before her eyes then locked onto me as she said in confusion. "Boss?" 

'Of dear.' I thought as Delta zipped towards me but then stopped in the middle of the air with my counterpart coughing as he snapped his fingers and in unison all the girls groaned as they held their chests. "I am afraid I must seal you ladies mana a good bit. Due to Danmachi's own world laws, foreign mana signatures will make you monster bait so as you guys get a falna and level up. Your old physical and magical abilities will return and be even more powerful than before."

He announced and then he clapped his hands together again, this time a large portal formed behind us all and we were all floated into the portal as his power had kept us frozen in place. "Good luck you all!" He said cheerily before the portal swallowed us with the girls smashing into me as we were sent flying through the air and with a thudding noise I landed on the bottom of a pile of women as we hit the hard ground of what felt like a wooden floor.