[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 9: Converging Fires

XxXXxX
​

Hestia had explained a bit more about Orario to me, so I had a rough idea of where everything was supposed to be. Of course, a 'rough idea' could mean very little when it came to a city, but hey—I was from New York; I'd manage. The way Orario was separated into districts made things a bit better in that regard, even if it was as much a mess as any city.

But at the very least, I knew where I was going. The main building of the Guild, the 'Pantheon,' was located not too far from the abandoned church Hestia and I now called home. And if there was anything good about Orario, it was that a lot of things stood out—like the massive tower in the center—and made it hard to get truly lost. The Guild was a pretty noticeable building on North-West street, what with the banners and painted roof, so I managed.

Inside...it wasn't what I expected—which was actually starting to become what I expect of Orario, so. But for the headquarters of the organization that, from what I understood, basically ran the city, it was very pedestrian. The open spaces, counters, polished floors, and people in uniform made it look more like a bank than anything. In fact, even becoming an adventurer was pretty simplistic.

"Name?" The girl behind the counter asked me with a perky smile. Well, maybe I shouldn't call her a girl; I wasn't sure how old she actually was. But if she was more than four-nine, I'd eat my shoes, and it made her look young.

Then again, being four-nine still meant she was taller than Hestia, so.

"Percy Jackson," I answered dutifully.

"Race?" She asked after scrawling something on a sheet. That question might have tripped me up for a moment, if Hestia hadn't prepared me for it.

"Human," I replied, which was at least half-true. In Orario, 'race' referred to things like 'elf,' 'dwarf,' and 'human,' instead of things like 'Caucasian,' which I'd need to keep in mind. Luckily, it seemed like the type of thing that'd be hard to screw up.

"God?" She continued after writing my answer down.

"Hestia," I stated, which made her pause in a way that seemed to break the routine.

"Hestia?" She asked, blinking once and furrowing her eyebrows. She looked at me examining for a long moment before opening her mouth. "Ah, are you a new Familia?"

I nodded, having been told to expect this, and the girl turned away to open a drawer and take out several other forms.

"You'll need to give these to your goddess," She said. "These are tax forms, so they're very important, okay? We'll need to get you registered as soon as possible!"

I nodded again, a small part of me still vaguely disappointed at how this was going. Not that I wanted to have to engage in a duel to the death to prove my worth or anything, but...tax forms? Really?

She spent a few more moments scribbling stuff on the pages and then handed on over to me, where I glanced over it. Between my dyslexia and whatever language they were using for stuff like this, I couldn't read any of it, but there was a spot left open at the bottom for me to sign. I briefly wondered whether it'd be more attention drawing to sign my name in Greek or English before going with the latter and hoping it didn't matter.

"Okay," She said as soon as I was done. "You're all done. Congratulations on becoming an adventurer, Percy!"

Forget bank forms. I'm pretty sure even that's not this simple. In fact, it struck me as odd—

Okay, no, that was a lie. It was something that seemed like it should be odd, rather. As a demigod, being sent into a place full of monsters with no instructions was fairly standard for me; I was at Camp for a few days after nearly dying and losing my mother before I was fighting in a battle with live weaponry where the only repercussion to maiming one another was a loss of dessert privileges for the night. And practically before that was over, I was being sent on a quest to stop a war between the gods, which was being orchestrated by a titan and a traitor. You know, 'time to save the world, Percy; try not to die or whatever.'

So being thrown into the deep-end was nothing new to me. But every now and then, I remembered that most people aren't like us and throwing some guy—and they hadn't asked for my age or background or much of anything at all about me—into the Dungeon seemed like a good way to kill people. I mean, again, didn't King Midas use this as a form of execution?

Maybe I was just really, really underestimating the average Adventurer, but this struck me as dangerous. Enough so to make me wonder...

"Thank you," I answered, feeling a bit uncertain. "Is that everything, then?"

"Almost," She replied, smile remaining. "As a new adventurer—especially one from a new Familia—there are several opportunities that you can take advantage of, here at the Guild."

"Oh?" I asked.

"For those without more experienced Familia members, it is recommended that you take advantage of the advisors the Guild offers," She stated, sounding like she was reciting something she'd said a thousand times. "These advisors will be able to assist you by recommending appropriate floors of the Dungeon and informing you of dangers therein. Would you like an advisor?"

I relaxed slightly. It may not have been much, but it was something, right? It was more than I'd gotten, going into things.

"Sure," I said. "Sounds like a good idea."

She bobbed her head, smile unchanging but for the fact that it now seemed for...not quite forced, but worried? Expectant, maybe, as if she knew something bad was going to happen but wasn't sure how or when.

"Do you have any preferences?" She asked.

"I get a choice?" I wondered, blinking in surprise.

"Of course," She said. "It is the hope of the Guild that we'll be able to maintain a comfortable working relationship with all adventurers and we go out of our way to make that possible. The Guild employs people from all walks of life and will be happy to accommodate you if there is anyone you'd be more at ease working with. Admittedly, the availability of specific members may vary, but we will do all that we can to assist you."

Credit where it's due, I could never have been that bubbly while reciting a company speech—I honestly kind of impressed.

"What are my options?" I asked, considering it.

"Presently?" She asked, pausing as if to remember. "Humans, elves, dwarves, chientropes, werewolves—"

It took me a moment to realizes that she was listing races, but then I stopped her by raising a hand, realizing I should have been more specific. But that just made me wonder what I was looking for. If it was an advisor...

I thought about Annabeth. Then I closed my eyes and very carefully stopped thinking about Annabeth, taking a slow breath. But it did give me an idea.

"I don't really care about stuff like that," I told her. "But...do you have anyone who could explain literally everything?"

"...Everything?" She asked, expression quickly growing uncertain. "Do you have anything specific in mind, or...?"

"No," I replied. "Just in general."

"I...see," She said, seeming to consider it. After a moment, her head tilted to the side and she nodded slowly. "Maybe. But I'd need to ask. Would you be willing to come by tomorrow to give us time to arrange a proper advisor."

"Sure," I agreed with a shrug. "Anything else?"

"One more thing," She replied. "Do you require armor or weaponry? If so, the Guild is willing to provide both, as well as loans for their purchase."

Ah, right...they hadn't asked if I was armed, either. I'd sort of assumed anyone signing up to fight monsters for a living would bring their own weaponry, but I guess not.

Then again, my armor had gotten ruined, so who was I to talk."

"I don't need weapons," I said. "But how much does armor cost?"

"Three thousand Valis," She answered promptly.

I nodded and pretended I understood what that meant. Which reminded me—at some point, I really needed to figure out what Valis amounted to. I mean, it was money, obviously, but that didn't tell me much and I was guessing asking how much three thousand Valis was in American Dollars wouldn't get me anywhere. Was it a lot, though? I mean, I usually assumed anything measured in thousands was a lot, but there were things in Wayland's shop that had seven zeroes on them. I had no idea what the conversion rate was, but didn't stuff like Yen go for a hundred to a dollar or something? Was that what was happening? If so, then what type of armor would I be buying with three thousand Valis; a thick shirt?

Of course, the other possibility was that prices just went that high when you had magical smiths. If so, I was going to miss Beckendorf and my brother even more than I already did. The only reason I hadn't gone through more sets of armor than shirts is because my shirts tended to get ruined along with my armor, and gone were the days when I could just have the Hephaestus Cabin make new ones for me.

If it was just me, I'd probably go for it. Even as hard as I was on armor, every bit helped and it was better to be a little in debt than a lot in the grave. But considering how little Hestia had...I was wary of putting her in debt when I had no idea how much it amounted to.

"Can I give you my answer to that tomorrow?" I asked. "I should speak to Hestia before I do anything like that."

"Of course," She answered. "I'll ask them to handle that tomorrow then. Will you be dropping by in the morning again?"

I nodded.

"Then have a nice day," She chirped.

"Thanks," I said. "You, too...?"

"Misha," She supplied.

"Misha," I finished. "See you tomorrow."

And with that done and my papers in hand, I left the Guild. I'd need to drop them off at the church and speak to Hestia about the armor and stuff—but that wasn't why I'd asked to put things off until tomorrow. There was still a lot I didn't understand about this place, but I could think of one way to start clearing things up.

Let's see what this Dungeon was all about.