6 Let The Tale Begin

"No"

Well, my face is still bowed down when I hear the answer, which is not that much of a surprise. I straighten my back and scratch the back of my neck. I let out a long sign, "Well, I guess, that's it then."

He raises one eyebrow and says, "You're not going to at least beg or ask me why", I reply back, "What would be the point, and I do have some shred of pride not to beg further when you're already helping me?"

"Oh, that's very mature of you." I wave my hand. "Yeah, yeah, I'm super mature and awesome. Out of curiosity, if you refuse to answer, it's fine, but can you at least tell me the reason?"

He looks at me for a couple minutes, not saying anything, probably thinking of what he's going to say: "Well, the first reason was just to spite you because you called me an old man, you piece of shit." Ok, seem reasonable to me "Second, just what exactly do I get? I'm already offering to help you heal and give you supplies; why should I waste my time and effort to help train you? What do you have to offer me? The real world doesn't work like those stupid hero books people read. Like I said about joining a Familia, if you have nothing worth giving, what do you expect someone to even be willing to give you in return? I'm only helping you because I feel sorry for you, and I'm only giving you basic supplies that don't mean much. If you live or die, it's not my problem. All you asked me so far was to train you. You haven't offered me anything, so again, why should I train you?"

I figured, as much as I guess. In real life, you're not going to find a super mentor out of nowhere who's just going to take you in and train you. When you have not shown anything of value. I mean, come on, all I have shown this guy so far is me being a crazy lunatic. I look at him, shrugging. "You're right, we practically know nothing about each other except what we discussed earlier. Can you blame me though ? I had to give it a shot. And I wasn't asking for a long amount of training—just enough for me to get to a town safely. But it's fine. I expected as much, and I'm still appreciative of all you've given me."

"Look kid," "Hey, you didn't call me Brat that time," another eye twich, he continues "Like you said, I don't know you at all. All I know about you so far is that ridiculous story you told me, and that you probably have some screws loose in noogen of yours. I lived a long life," he said, raising his fist and predicting I was about to make a joke,  "tch'. "I met a lot of people in my life and had my a nice adventure. Now I'm enjoying my peace and quiet when you rudely interrupt it, but then again, it did get quite boring lately. I'm not some heroic figure that's going to waste my time for free helping others, and before you ask what about me saving you, that was just to satisfy my own curiosity, and I don't really feel like disposing of your body. Also, it would have been a waste on that minor health potion just to kill you. On second thought, if you turned out to be an arrogant jackass, who knows what would have  happened?"Morbid, but OK,

He continues, "So let's say, maybe I take you in, to relieve me of my boredom for a while by making you my punching bag, which we will call training. Trust me, every bit will help from what I see. Hell, I'm willing to go for a month, no more, to get you up to snuff. But like I said before, I'm not a charity worker, and I know for sure you had nothing on you when I carried you back here, so what do you have left to offer me? So right here, right now, you have 10 minutes to think about what you can do to convince me to give you an ounce of training you so desire to survive. Just know you only have 10 minutes to think about it; afterwards, you have one shot to convince me. If I still don't want to train you, well, tough luck for you, I guess. Your time starts now," he says, taking out a cleaning rag and starting to clean his sword.

Well, shit, the old man knows how to put someone on the spot. Think, Odr, what exactly do I have that I can offer? All I have are my cooking, cleaning, and other YouTube tutorial skills. Also, maybe doing chores, I guess. I have nothing valuable to offer. I can make him a promise to pay him back later, but since we don't have trust, he'll think that I'll just forget about it. Omori Dammit (I'm just going to use the author of Danmachi to curse, since, from one point of view, he's the one true god, I guess. I'll be alternating between Fujino and Omori)

Okay, so my choices are to offer my household skills, make a promise to pay him back later, or challenge him to a bet. Hmmmm, as an adventurer, he probably be interested in the bet. If only I risked something of value. Well, that's all I can think of right now. There's no point in wasting more time since I have nothing else.

"I'm ready to answer," he says, looking up from cleaning his sword. "You're not going to use all 10 minutes; it's only been 5." I chuckled a bit. "Honestly, no point. I have nothing on me, and I already know all I can offer is simply cooking and cleaning while I train and do chores. I can also promise to pay back this debt later, when I make it big, but you probably wouldn't want the second because how do you know that I'll keep my word. For that, all I can say is to trust me, but we don't even know each other that well. The last one: how about a bet? If I win, you train me for a month, but I'll still cook clean and do chores. If I lose, I'll leave without supplies whatsoever. There all cards on the table, that's all I can offer as of right now. So, what do you think, feeling adventurous?" I give him a cocky smirk, trying to play his pride to take the bet.

He puts down his sword and looks me in the eye. "First off, I see what you're trying to do. I'm not an idiot like you. Second, you're right; I don't trust you. I have no assurance whatsoever that you'll pay me back. As tempting as it is to have a Lackey cook, clean, and do anything, I say you haven't exactly proven it, which is counterproductive since we just met literally today. And just making sure you want to bet losing a guarantee on having actual supplies that will help you on your journey just to get some training. Is that right?" I respond back with a strong "yes."

He doesn't say anything for a couple minutes but starts laughing. "You're a funny little fellow, aren't you? You know what, why the hell not. I've been bored lately anyway; however, let me add one thing: if you lose, I get to take either one of your hands or your feet." After saying that, he stop smiling and let out a bit of aura, which I figured was killing intent, trying to intimidate me.

I begin to sweat a little and gulp. I don't know if he's actually serious or if he's trying to test me to see if I'll follow through. Fujino, dammit, I honestly have nothing to lose. I mean, I can lose a body part, but I can also lose my life traveling with very little experience in fighting. I start to scratch my head irritantly, trying to distract me from his killing intent. I look up and stand my ground, looking back at him viciously. "You know what? You fucking psyco old man, I'm game. If I want to pursue a life in Orario, I have to take risks even knowing the consequences, so let's do it."

He stops and pulls back on the killing intent, but looks back equally as viciously. "That's the spirit." He gets up and pulls out a coin. "Let's bet it all on one chance, shall we? Since you're still injured, I can't give you a test to see where you stand. So let's place it all on luck, because it also plays an important part in an adventurer's life. Heads, I take you in and train you for a month after you heal while you do everything I say, from cooking to cleaning. Hell, if you do well in your training and impress me, I'll actually give you a gift. Tails, you walk away with nothing! While also leaving either your hand or foot behind, I'll be generous and let you choose. So are you still ready?" He offers me the coin, which I snatched.

"Just watch Rudra; right here, right now is the beginning of the amazing Tale of Odr Friggs. Fuck everything else thus far; Just so you know, I have the Devil's luck when it comes to gambling; I'm only lucky when it comes to bets, but everything else I get shit on, on a regular basis." I'm totally bluffing, I'm not freaking Naruto. I just wanted to sound cool in the moment. My luck can go either way depending on its mood.

Using my thumb on my right hand, I flip the coin as high as I can, but I refused to look at it, just focusing on the man before me, who did the same. Neither of us is backing down. Couple seconds later, the coin falls right between us.

'clink'

We both slowly look down and see the result of the coin toss.

"Well damn, looks like I won."

A/N

Cliffhanger, who was the last one to respond? Who won? It all comes down to a freaking coin toss. Will he be walking away with a month's worth of training from a level 3 adventure, or will he be leaving with one body part short?

Let's Find Out Next Time, Stay Tuned

Bonus

Question for you all: I'm going to say a couple gods and goddesses I chose for my MC to join and want to hear your opinion. Again, this is just your opinion; this is not a vote. If he goes to Orario, potential gods or goddesses are;

Miach since he has only one member, so it'll be easy to get in and learn potions. Who knows, he might make revolutionary potions. What are the chances to make a exp potion? Who knows but wouldn't it be cool to find out?

Hestia, since if she's already descended, she doesn't have anyone so far, and he would have more freedom to do what I want; however, chances are she hides some skills if she thinks they're dangerous. Also most lucky gain a waifu right off the bat, if he enjoys clingy headaches.

Hermes, just for his captain Asfi alone, to learn how to make magic items. Making magical items that can come in handy and using his magic to enchant them. Who wouldn't want that?

And lastly, on his long journey to reach Orario, he runs into the goddess Astraea, if he is lucky, somehow convinced her to give him a falna. Also since she isn't tied down to orario and is roaming around, the MC wouldn't be force to stay in orario all the time.

Before you ask why not Loki or Hephaestus? For Loki its because they're a big Familia and the chances Odr can be discovered by Freya is high. Also I don't think he'll be allowed to do what he wants, I feel like he would be controlled and restricted there. As for Hephaestus don't get me wrong making magical weapons sounds cool but I don't think our MC would wants to spend a lot of time learning blacksmithing when he could just buy weapons and use his magic on them. I mean if he gets a magical weapon maybe he can use his magic to make sure it doesn't break.

So people, let me hear your honest opinions. Also, the next three chapters are going to be time skips.