Is It Wrong to Explore the Dungeon Even Though I’m Overpowered? (Danmachi SI- WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 3: Labyrinth City of Orario

Suddenly jumping away from me as if she had been burned, Artemis turned towards our voyeurs and attempted to explain herself.

Not that it had much of an effect since she was stuttering terribly with a huge blush on her face.

“L-Lante! R-Rethusa! This is- I-I mean. I wasn’t- I-I can explain~”

“Fufufu there is nothing to explain Artemis-sama.” Lante said with a shake of her head, the smile never leaving her face. “It seems after all this time; you finally fell in love.”

“I agree with Lante, Artemis-sama.” Rethusa continued with a smile on her face. “It brings joy to my heart to see you so happy, like you have been for the past few days.”

“You two…” Artemis muttered in shock at her words before a smile grew on her face.

“Reinhard, I’m hungry.”

The moment was broken again this time by Est, who without a care in the world turned back into her human form and pulled my sleeve trying to get my attention.

“Of course, Est.” I said with a nervous smile on my face seeing the jealous glare Artemis was sending the spirit as she had decided to hold my hand.

‘Haha I can’t help but feel as if I’m the protagonist of a romcom with the way everything’s turned out. Wait…Technically I am. Fuuuck.’

=====

(Following Day)

After all the excitement from last night had worn off, we had a tasty dinner made by me and then went to bed.

Unfortunately, that was when another problem presented itself.

Up until that moment Est, being my personal Spirit, would always spend the night with me. To my embarrassment though I would always wake up with the petite spirit glued to my side with nothing but her knee-socks on. Trying to tell her no had only caused the girl to give me the cutest of all pouts and I had caved in immediately, letting her do as she wished.

The problem began when Artemis tried to sneak into my tent during the night finding Est glued to my side while being mostly naked.

Let’s just say that I was given a talking to by the Goddess about the proper way to do things with marriage being mentioned a couple of times and her forbidding Est from doing it again.

She had failed.

Est, hadn’t even paid attention to her and had just cuddled to my side almost teasing the Goddess with the way she would rub her cheek against my chest.

In the end Artemis had decided to join us, using the excuse that she had to be there to make sure we didn’t do something inappropriate.

“Artemis-sama, remember when you asked to see my new ability?” I asked the following morning while we were having breakfast.

“Oh, that’s right. It’s been more than 24 hours by now, right? Show me Rein.” Artemis recalled with a blink before smiling and looking at me with an eager look.

“Of course.”

Speaking about my last purchase, I had finally managed to spend the rest of my credits. I had bought Three-Piece Suit x2, Elemental Shroud (Luminal), White Knight, Conjunction, Pocket Apartment x2, All Roads Lead to Home, Sweet Home x1, Martial Talent, Wild Talent, Communication Talent, Blessed Talent, Performance Talent, Template Stacking 2 (Yuuya Tenjou), Body Defense, Wild Defense, Stress Defense, Drain Defense, Information Defense, Sexual Calibration, Appearance Change, Time Savers and Grail Knowledge (Est).

Some of the perks had been free due to various reasons but at the end of it I had used up all of my credits which was slightly sad.

Willing my Shroud to appear, I saw tendrils made of yellow light appear from my back much to the surprise of everyone watching.

“This is called the Shroud of Power and it has lots of handy abilities.” I explained going over what everything the Shroud of Power did to the awe of the girls. “Mine though is slightly special and also lets me control the element of Light, allowing me to do things like these.”

Pointing my shroud to the nearest tree, a beam of light was released from the end piercing the tree like it was butter.

“Whoa! That’s real handy indeed.” Artemis said with an impressed nod.

“The best part about this is that I can grant this Shroud to those I wish empowering them by a bit.” I said looking towards Est, Lante and Rethusa. “Unfortunately, since you are too strong, it won’t be able to empower you yet Artemis-sama.” I apologized with a small bow of my head.

“Amazing~ Does that mean if you give me one, we will be able to talk telepathically?” Artemis asked looking at me intently.

“Correct. No matter the distance or location, you will always be able to communicate with those that I grant my Shroud to.” I nodded in confirmation.

“Good, and it doesn’t harm you or anything to do this right?” Artemis further asked and when I shook my head, she nodded with a smile forming on her face. “Well, what are you waiting for Rein?”

“Is that okay? We will be connected on a deeper level with this?” I asked nervously wanting to make sure.

“Just do it already dummy.” Lante encouraged with a smile and Rethusa doing the same besides her.

“We are already connected Reinhard. The Shroud won’t change that.” Est muttered to my side with a nod of her head.

“You, see? Nobody has a problem with it.” Artemis said at last with an encouraging smile.

“Thank you for your trust, everyone.” I thanked them sincerely before looking at Artemis first.

“Just relax Artemis-sama, this should be over in an instant.” I informed and let my Shroud surround the Goddess.

A moment later I felt a connection form between all of the and willed my Shroud to recede, now staring at everyone who were playing around with the basic form of the Shroud. With the Shroud empowering Est and Rethusa, they were now considered tier6 and Lante tier5.

Rethusa and Lante seemed the most surprised probably feeling their rise in strength.

“I can feel your emotions Rein.” I heard Artemis say in my mind causing me to turn in her direction to find her with small tears running down her cheeks causing me to slightly panic. “They’re beautiful.”

I relaxed a moment later when I felt the wave of positive emotions coming from the goddess letting me know that she was not sad and those were happy tears.

“Reinhard. Warm.” I heard Est mutter next as she leaned her head against my shoulder and seemingly fell asleep at the feel of my emotions.

Feeling a bout of jealousy, I turned towards Artemis again to now find her biting her lip as she looked at Est and further getting feelings of longing from her as if she wanted to do what Est was doing.

‘Hehe, and just when things were calming down.’ I thought with a small sweat drop. ‘At least we should be arriving to Orario soon.’

=====

(Two Days Later)

It had taken a week but when the light of the sun reached us on the seventh day, we could finally spot the tower of Babel from a distance.

“Seems the city is finally in sight. Just on time too, we were starting to run out of supplies.” Artemis yelled over the wind since we were riding together in the back of a dragon with my Divine Protection of Riding Animals allowing me ride such a beast.

‘Oh, that’s right. Since I’ve been having so much fun lately, I forgot to inform everyone about Sweet Home and all the supplies it automatically restocks. Oh well, no harm done. The closest portal that I felt was back a day ago in the direction of a small town which probably means the portals are only available in places that have some kind of significance.’ I thought silently.

Before we knew it, we had finally arrived at the outskirts of the city and were now just returning our mounts to the main branch of the Familia we had rented them from that was here in Orario.

Once done with that we finally made our way to the southwest entry gate already seeing a small line forming in front of a small check in station to the side of the gate.

‘Now I’m glad that Artemis is with me since I have no documentation whatsoever.’ I thought using my enhanced sense of sight to see how the guards would ask everyone that wanted to enter a couple of questions.

“Haah this place never changes.” Artemis let out with a small sigh before shaking her head and looking at me and Est specifically.

“Rein, when we talk to the guard, leave the talking to me alright? There shouldn’t be any problems since I’m a goddess.” Artemis requested.

“Thank you, Artemis-sama.” I thanked the goddess with a small bow of my head.

“Reinhard, I want a parfait.” Est suddenly chimed in not even paying attention to Artemis causing said goddess to sigh again at Est’s carefree attitude.

“I don’t see why not. We have been eating nothing but jerky and fruit for the past two days, so a snack sounds good.” I said giving it some thought and agreeing with Est’s request causing Est’s eyes to light up in happiness.

“Reinhard is the best~”

“Artemis-sama, Lante-san, Rethusa-san, would you also like one? I’ll pay of course.” I asked turning to the others.

“If it’s not too much trouble. Thank you in advance for treating us, Reinhard-sama.” Rethusa said still addressing me respectfully despite my attempts to get her to stop.

“That actually sounds delicious. Count me in~” Lante readily agreed with a big smile on her face.

“That sound wonderful Rein. Thank you.” Artemis also agreed with a nod of her head looking more composed and serious than the past week causing me to blink curiously.

‘Why is she acting all serious now? Oh, I get it.’ I thought in realization observing that we had a few eyes on us probably due to all the beautiful girls in our group.

“Next!” We heard an unfamiliar voice call out to us from somewhere in front of us.

Turning towards the voice, we noticed that the line was now gone and we were next in line. There was a male guard attending the booth looking all bored with a few guards behind him.

As one we stepped forward and then stayed quiet as Artemis took charge and talked with the guard. A few minutes later, the process was done and Artemis led the way into the city proper.

Within the first few steps inside the city my senses were assaulted on all directions by all the different activities going on around us. As I watched all the different races walking around us it finally hit me that I was actually in a different world. Up until now I was just kind of going with the flow but actually seeing all the different races just going about their day really hit home the fact that I was not in my world anymore.

‘This place somewhat reminds me of the Royal Capital of Lugunica, just less advanced. It makes sense, though. The gods in their greed are stagnating human innovation and progress.’ I thought silently.

“What do you think Reinhard-sama? Is it anything like you thought it was?” The mischievous voice of Lante asked me to my side.

“I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic at the sight of the different races of the world all coexisting together.” I muttered letting out a nostalgic sigh.

Since I had all of Reinhard’s memories and emotional connections thanks to the Memoria perk, I was technically 2 people mixed into one. I had come to accept it instead of constantly worrying about it and found that a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

“Hoh, you must tell me about it sometime. Sounds like quite the story.” Lante continued giving me a curious smile.

“Of course.” I agreed readily.

“Reinhard, can we get a parfait now?” Est asked pulling my sleeve catching my attention.

“Haha, of course Est. I did promise after all.” I agreed with a smile then took on a thoughtful expression. “Hmm if I remember correctly, the market area should be that way somewhere.” I pointed to the left.

“And just how did you know that if you’ve never been to Orario before?” Lante asked me with a raised eyebrow and a teasing smile on her face.

“I don’t mind explaining but maybe we should shelve that discussion for later.” I responded with a smile of my own while I signaled with my eyes at all the people around us.

“Haah stop teasing Rein, Lante. Come on, all this talk of food has got me hungry too.” Artemis chimed in interrupting our conversation making us realize that we had fallen behind as her and Rethusa were already ahead of us.

“Wait for us Artemis-samaa.” Lante said and hurried to catch up with the goddess but not before turning towards me and playfully winking at me.

Smiling at her antics I shook my head and patted Est’s head to my side. “Come on Est, we should catch up before we end up lost in this place.”

“Mmn.”

Catching up with everyone, we made small talk as we searched for a stall that sold parfait. On the way I saw a bunch of food that I didn’t recognize making me curious if it tasted any good. After some time, we finally found the stand and I bought everyone a treat, using some of the money from the monthly allowance that every Contractor received.

With snack in hand, we found a place to sit and enjoyed our snack.

“Rein, are you able to make this kind of snack?” Artemis asked me curiously after taking a huge bite out of her treat.

Turning towards the goddess, I blinked seeing the cute sight of Artemis with a bit of yogurt at the side of her mouth. Before I knew it, I extended my arm and gently wiped the yogurt from her mouth and licked my finger clean before blinking again when I realized what I did.

“My apologies,” Embarrassed, I coughed into my hand feeling a blush creep on my cheeks. “And yes, yes I can.”

“I-It’s o-okay.” Artemis cutely stuttered out with her face almost letting out steam with how red it was.

“You two lovebirds should probably wait to do that until we’re indoors.” Lante said lightly, looking around us and keeping a look out.

“No fair Reinhard. Me too.”

Est feeling left out, only made the situation worse as she pouted up at me with yogurt also covering her face.

Resigned at my fate, I wiped Est’s face clean getting a pleased hum from her.

Looking up again, I saw Artemis now looking away from me with a pout on her face.

“You pamper Est way too much Rein.” Artemis slightly whined.

I stayed quiet knowing that whatever I said would only make the goddess more annoyed and just silently finished my snack.

Within minutes we finished our snack and got ready to continue exploring the city in search for Artemis’s friend who could be none other than the Loli Goddess based on her previous description of her.

“Last I heard, Hestia was staying with Hephaistos.” Artemis said out loud confirming my words while ignoring everything else around her.

“Artemis-sama? I might have an idea of where Hestia-sama is.” I chimed in catching the goddesses’ attention.

“You do?” Artemis turned to me and blinked curiously. “Oh, right! That.” She suddenly recalled when I had told her that I somewhat knew of some of the events that would be happening in the future.

I had only watched Danmachi up until the 3rd season and that was only the Anime. Beyond that I had no idea what really took place other than a few key things here and there.

“Okay Rein, you lead the way then.” Artemis signaled for me to take the lead.

“If you’ll excuse me.” I muttered and walked ahead of the group leading them towards the north of Babel, where I knew Hestia’s Jagamarakun Stall was.

I made sure to take the long way as I wanted to stay away from the Hostess of Fertility not wanting to run into a certain Goddess for the time being. Along the way we passed the tower of Babel with a huge group of adventurers already going towards it even though it was kind of early.

Before too long we found ourselves in the northern section of the city where the Twilight Manor, the Loki Familia home, was also located. This part of the city also seemed to have its own stalls so we took our time browsing through them for anything interesting.

After searching for a bit, we finally found what we were looking for at a small stall with a short black-haired girl in two pig tails running it.

The girl had a bright smile on her face as she served the line of hungry customers. Every time she would serve someone, she would ask them a question only for her face to sadden after every response. Then she cheered up again and greeted the next customer and would repeat the same process.

On the outside it looked as she wasn’t affected by their rejection but I could see her bright blue eyes getting a little dimmer after every negative response she received.

“There she is. Fufufu, I have to say that I’m surprised to see her working so diligently when she used to be so lazy back then.” Artemis giggled but had a fond smile on her face as she observed her friend.

“We should wait until the line goes away before talking to her.” Artemis continued a bit later turning to us.

Getting a round of nods from everyone, we waited for a while before the line finally disappeared and we approached the stand.

“Hello Hestia. Long time no see.” Greeted Artemis catching the tiny goddesses’ attention causing her to look up in surprise before a huge smile broke out on her pretty face.

“Artemis!”

(Map of Orario for Reference)