15 Consequences

I'm back, let's go back into it. Btw I want to start something new. At the beginning of some, if not each, chapters, I'm going to put in a random lyric and it's up to you to continue it in the comments.

Here's the first iconic one that suddenly surfaced in my life again...

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~I told you long agoooo, on the road...~

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"You wanna let go of my hand now Ais?" Steve asked.

"No." Ais shook her head.

"Please?"

"No."

"...It's MY hand. Why not?"

"Because if I keep holding it..." She held it up higher. "...I'll grow stronger."

"I'm pretty sure that's an idiomatic statement."

Ais looked a little taken back, startled even.

"I didn't know I said something dumb."

"...IDIOMATIC! Not IDIOTIC." He exasperated before looking up to the side, mumbling under his breath as he had second thoughts. "Although that second one is not necessarily far off the mark"

Nevertheless, Ais insisted on holding his hand until the Loki Familia came up to them.

"Congratulations Steve." Finn nodded. "Defeating our Sword Princess at her strongest is considered nothing short of an astounding feat in Orario, although I suspect when it comes to you, it mattered very little."

"Not to be discourteous to Miss Wallenstein here." Steve nodded at Ais. "But she still did put up an impressive fight. I reckon if I hadn't put an end to it when I did, her blows may have landed even heavier yet."

"That's good to hear." Riveria said before she glanced over at Ais. "Are you satisfied now Ais? Now that you have had your spar?"

"Yes." Ais nodded right away.

"So why aren't you letting go of him Ais?" Gareth gestured to their clasped hands. Or rather Ais's clasped hands; Steve's was still open waiting to be released from her tight grip.

"Because he's my answer." Ais said. "I need him to grow stronger."

"What part of that includes you holding onto his hands then?" Bete said before his eyes suddenly widened. "Wait! Don't tell me you actually like this asshole?"

This question made everybody take a step back since 'Ais' and 'feelings' never mixed together in any situation and yet her behaviour at the moment was quite questionable now. They studied her empty expression as they could physically see her brain processing Bete's question. Her mouth opened in a little 'o' as she frowned a little, like she was actually considering it when Steve believed it should have just been an outright 'No'.

He looked all around the gathering, seeing the anticipation on their faces. Especially from his followers of the Hip Faith, as they prayed their leader secured the feelings of the other great haunch bearer in their Familia. They seemed the most eager of all.

"Well it seems our Ais has at last found her Hero." Gareth chuckled. "After the amount of times she's rejected a request of courtship, it's about time she had an interest of her own."

Murmurs of agreement went round as the story was no small matter. It was a city-wide spread tale, some of the best gossip. Ais Wallenstein had been asked out quite literally over a 1000 times and she had rejected each and every single one without a passing glance. Which also had led her to be known as emotionless and an 'ice queen' at times with how blunt she was, seemingly uncaring of the feelings of the men who had built up the courage to ask her out.

"Hero." Ais mumbled. "Hero. Hero. Hero." She said over and over again as she tried to figure out what exactly about that word was making her chest feel a little heavy all of a sudden. Her eyes glazed over a little as her mind wandered over to a distant memory...of happier times, in a happier place, with people she loved even more than the family she had now...

"Hero." She said as the area above her nose flushed a little, and she looked back at Steve. "Yes. You are my Hero."

The followers of the Faith of the Hips pumped the air with their fists as they cheered inwardly for their leader, their founder and congratulated him upon the completion of this great miracle, and the second holy mission of their belief.

Steve meanwhile felt a cold sweat on his back.

'No, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen! I knew I should have just said no to this spar again!' He thought. 'It's only the beginning though. She's notorious for not knowing her own feelings so maybe Gareth just put words in her mouth. I mean for god's sake, this girl is an EMOTIONAL WRECK beneath it all. I mean she was in my top waifus on Danmachi yeah, but realistically I can't bear a responsibility like that! Not to mention the main events are also partially centred around her. I just wanted my 'overpowered back-ground character life'. Is that so much to ask?'

"Well I am truly flattered Ais." He said as he gently pried her fingers off. "But I am anything but heroic."

"But you're strong!" She said.

"Strength doesn't constitute a hero." Steve said. "Heroes are people who go out of their way, risk their own body and integrity to better their lives of others and realize their ideals." Steve put a hand on his chest. "There is nothing I value more than my integrity and I've always put my safety above others. I'm the complete opposite of a hero."

He turned and began to walk away. 

"How exactly have been able to live with yourself that way then?" Riveria asked as she raised a brow. "Did you not have loved ones that depended on you? At the least not even parents?"

Steve came to a stop, thinking for a moment before turning his head. "They never really needed me to begin with. You could say that was how I got this strong." Steve said as he looked at Ais who was looking like she was noting that down before he realized and swung around again. "Not that that is the correct way Ais! You have a family now who even I can see cares very deeply about you. It would be the worst thing for you to do if you just abandoned the bonds you've made. It will definitely just make you weaker."

"Weaker?"

"Yes."

"And bonds will make me stronger?"

"Yes."

"So then I have to just strengthen my bond with you."

Stave gave her a flat look as Tione began chuckling. "Well that backfired quickly." The Amazon said. Steve gave her one of the dirtiest glares he could muster.

Tiona suddenly squealed and jumped onto his shoulder and sandwiched his head between her thighs as she placed her palms on his skull.

"Every time I see you fight you just get cooler and cooler!" She said laughing as she rubbed his cheeks with the inside of her thigh. "Please just leave you Familia and join us!"

"Not gonna happen Tiona." He said as he smiled up at her, thoroughly and visibly enjoying the predicament he was in. Tiona's thighs had more muscle to them than he anticipated but it was all hidden beneath a smooth, caramel surface of soft skin which still smelled with the fragrance of the bath he made last night.

"BUT WHY?!"

"Because I made an oath I'm not going to break." He said. "What kind of scumbag would I be if I just turned my back on my patron who has taken me in, especially after I promised them I would help to make our Familia strong."

"But if you joined us, you get way more benefits." Tiona said. "You'd be famous, you'd have resources, you'd have money and you could throw our weight around when people can become difficult." She then added in a mock-sad voice. "Plus it would make me really happy."

"You just mentioned all the motives an utter scumbag would have." Steve said as he placed a hand on top of one of her thighs. "As for making you happy, there are multiple other ways I could accomplish that..."

"Hehee, you're so bold." Tiona said as she leaned down. "You preach patience to me Steve but you aren't so afraid to rush along either."

...

It was at this point that most people began to leave, suddenly finding the situation a bit awkward now that the air around the two had changed quite considerably into another kind of vibe. Only the executives and some of members beneath them stayed behind. Finn put a hand to his eyes and smiled, not knowing what to say.

Ais looked at the two, seeing they were mutually enjoying each other and she paid particular attention to the cause of it. That being Tiona's thighs squashing Steve's cheeks which he seemed to be really enjoying. She looked down at her own thighs which weren't nearly as exposed as Tiona's due to her boots and the length of her skirt.

She looked back up to Tiona giving her a triumphant side eye as the Amazon stuck her tongue out. Ais only returned that expression with narrowed eyes.

Maybe if she did the same things Tiona did to Steve, the boy would perhaps train her and help her become stronger more actively. But whatever the case, she definitely knew that she didn't like Tiona's constant instigated competitions.

Lefiya suddenly piped up, having been observing the scene with distaste in the background.

"Miss Ais! Your sword!" She said as she pointed towards Desperate. 

Ais lifted her Durandal weapon up for all to see. The orichalcum blade was chipped and cracked here and there, and much of the sharpness had been lost too. What was once a beautiful and effective weapon, was now a debt indicting weapon. She already owed the Goibniu Familia enough money.

"Oh Ais." Gareth sighed. "How many times is that now? We can't keep fixing the damn thing if you're just going to break it."

"More importantly, how are you going to fight in the Dungeon now without a weapon?" Finn asked. "We don't exactly have many weapons that are suitable replacements for you."

"It's all your fault!" Lefiya said as she pointed towards Steve, who stopped flirting with Tiona to raise an eyebrow at her audacity.

The elf walked up to him, balled her fists tightly in front of her and leaned upwards. "You were the one she was fighting, so you should be the one to take responsibility!"

"How exactly does that make me responsible?" Steve asked, with a hard edge to his tone that only the grown-ups recognised and they slowly resigned themselves from the situation, Riveria included. Partly so that Lefiya learned her lesson the practical way and partly because they wanted to see how this panned out.

For purposes of gauging more of Steve's character, Finn told himself. Definitely not because he was interested in the drama that might follow. Because even he had to admit, Lefiya had crossed a little line here.

"You constantly swung your blade at her." Lefiya said. "That forced her to keep blocking with her Desperate and it's clear you have the better weapon. So you you damaged her weapon and now she can't fight properly anymore. So you are responsible. For the whole time you've been with us, you've just been showing off your strength and breaking things and you've just been a complete PERVERT!" Lefiya closed her eyes and yelled that last part aloud. "You should be ashamed!"

...

A pregnant silence passed before Steve sighed and tapped Tiona's thighs. The Amazon got the message and hopped off of him as he ran his hand through his hair and took in a deep breath. Those around him could see a vein throbbing in his temple and Lefiya suddenly felt a little anxious as the tension rose in the air and she could see nobody from her Familia attempt to defuse the boy's growing anger. Rather there were apprehensive about the whole thing and some from the supporter group gave her sad looks.

Steve finally let out the breath he had taken and the vein stopped throbbing as he looked at her with one of his signature smiles.

"You know what?" He said. "I will take responsibility." He said cheerily.

"Huh?" The elf asked, suddenly feeling all the heaviness in the air just disappear as the people around her became confused. This was quite the opposite reaction everything had been building up to.

"Yeah!" He said as he held a hand out to Ais who was withing his five meter limit. "I'll be taking that for the moment Ais." The sword in Ais's arms lifted upwards, taking her arm along with it as well before it twisted out of her grasp and landed in the boy's hands instead, like it telekinetically flew to his hands. Everybody gawped as this new and strange power of his they had not yet seen. "I just have one question for you."

Steve walked up to Lefiya, pretending to feel up the sword and examine it for what the extent of damage caused. Her came to a stop about two feet in front of her while she backed up a little, suddenly feeling very intimidated by his height. "When did you come out of school kid?"

"What?" 

"You heard me." Steve leaned towards her and his smile brightened, which did nothing to assure her, but rather did the opposite. "When did you come out of school?"

"W-What does that m-matter?" Lefiya returned to her normal stuff. 

"Because you're acting with little real maturity here and you haven't seemed to experience enough to develop basic cognitive deduction from an examination of the facts and the contents of the scenario." He said. "Quite reminiscent of a schoolgirl who has not really left the school environment behind, has not had a taste of the real world and never really had proper interaction with adults to learn maturity, their mannerisms and to read the unspoken words." Steve then closed his eyes and gave a toothy smile. "And judging by how often I've seen you freeze up in battle and end up having to be saved by another member of your Familia, I'd say my assumptions have some truth to it. So tell me, when did you come out of school?"

"A-A y-year ago..."

"Case and point." Steve smiled as he straightened up again and ran a finger along the edges of Desperate which were still quite sharp. "Listen here kid. It would have been one thing if I'd been the one to issue the challenge and on top of that, lost the bout, then I would be responsible for the reparation of this sword." He then levelled the sword at her face, and some of the Loki Familia tensed a little. After all, this was still their Familia member who was being held at the end of a known dangerous weapon by a stranger. But nothing in his body language suggested he was going to do anything.

"However, it was YOUR Familia member that challenged me to the duel, and she went in fully aware of the consequences should she fail, and with the full responsibility of any damages to her equipment and injuries to her body. Now it goes without saying that I injured her in the fight, but it is part of decency that I tended to her injuries. But on principle, I still didn't owe her any help. It was her problem to deal with. Giving her one of my valuable potions was pure courtesy and compassion on my part."

He lowered the sword and held it in his hands as his tone became sweeter and sweeter. 

"Now the damages to this sword are her fault exclusively, because she instigated the duel and furthermore, she took a loss from it. The consequences were hers to bear alone and she would have found herself in more debt because after all, this is a valuable weapon. And you know, I'm actually a very generous guy sometimes. Had I seen this on my own volition, I would have repaired without ask of a cost because I'm a nice guy. Your mouth however, is a very big problem it would seem. Thanks to your shameless spiel and nonsensical reasoning, you know what I'm going to do?"

He leaned towards her again. 

"I'm going to fix this sword, and on top of that I'm going to make it even BETTER!"

Steve held the sword high in the air and before everyone's eyes, Desperate seemed to heal itself completely. They watched in shock as all the cracks disappeared and the chipped parts grew back. The sword became sharp once again, the edge and the tip glinting in the little light down there. And then before their eyes, a membrane of glowing purple membrane of magic covered the Durandal weapon and the sword gleamed with a barely comprehensible increase of power as it looked suddenly so much more powerful and beautiful Finn could swear that the sword looked a whole lot sharper now.

Steve held it out to Ais, who slowly took it off his hands and examined her sword with genuine disbelief and wonder as she could FEEL the difference in this weapon now. The magical membrane made her fingers tingle, as she could sense something about this new version of desperate that was different, out of place. But POWERFUL. It was reminiscent of the feeling she got from Steve's own sword although on a much weaker scale.

"Thanks to you, I have put four different enchantments on her sword now in addition to repairing it." Steve said to Tiona with the kindest smile she'd ever seen. "Now thanks to your mindless talking, your friend owes me 100 million more Valis. You can have that weighing down on your conscience now. I'm sure it is a great honour for you that you managed to secure your idol a powerful new weapon. It's only driven her into more debt now but what does that matter, huh?"

"100 MILLION!" Lefiya exclaimed. Her Familia members looked put off by that figure as well. Ais looked at the blade in sudden alarm.

"Yes. The enchantments I put on the sword are each worth 20 million each, and I had to expend precious Mind to grow that sword back with no material. My labour costs for this job are also 20 million."

"B-But why-"

"Because it makes sense!" Steve said. "One of the most famous adventurers of one of the top Familia now owes me a great debt, thanks to the insistence of one of her Familia members which counts as approval of service. I need money, as a starting adventurer you see to open my own business and it doesn't hurt to be owed a large sum by a powerful adventurer more than capable of bringing me my money from the Dungeon. And if she can't pay me gradually, I can negotiate with her Familia leaders to give me the equivalent of that when splitting the dungeon spoils."

Steve began walking away with his hand clasped behind his hands as he added one last line.

"It's just good business."

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Finn eyed the boy as he passed him. In the brief moment they were aligned with each other and they locked each other's gazes, Steve whispered to him quietly and fast enough that only he would hear.

"Ais owes me no money. But I will still insist on another form of compensation." Steve clarified. "I don't want to financially burden her any more than she already is...but I will not be denied of my dues either."

Finn nodded, feeling greatly relieved on the inside. His Familia already were steeped in debts which did not do well for their reputation. They could appreciate it if they didn't have to owe an adventurer who was more powerful than them any money at all.

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