Danmachi - Eldritch Apostle

Meeting Hermes

- - - (Niall's POV) - - -

A sharp beam of sunlight flashed through my eyes, jolting me awake. "Ugh, I hate the sunlight..." I murmured, my voice still heavy with sleep.

Back on Earth, I suffered from something called photophobia—a condition where your eyes are severely sensitive to sunlight, just like in my case. It was bad enough that I had to wear sunglasses whenever I went outside, even if the sun wasn't shining brightly.

As a child, I didn't have that problem, but later on, during a period of being a shut-in, I unfortunately developed the syndrome. I guess it probably happened because of a lack of sunlight exposure, which made my eyes sensitive.

Luckily for me, my new body and the falna gave me enough protection from such things, even basic sicknesses like colds, etc

Being able to look around openly without glasses, in the sunlight, was mind-blowing for me. Standing up, I quickly got ready and made my way down to the main area of the tavern. It looked like any other tavern from a fantasy franchise.

The wooden stairs shrieked as I added pressure onto them. Upon reaching the bottom, I noticed a few looks directed at me. One hooded, mysterious guy—whom I swear I had seen last night—was sitting in the same spot with the same drink on the table.

Others in the inn were a bunch of dwarves and beast folk. The dwarves were cheerily drinking and chatting with the beast folk, while the tavern owner polished the tables.

"Heya, good morning kiddo! I already made you food and placed a drink on the table there," Gob pointed me to the table, which was right next to the hooded man.

"And how much would that cost me?" I asked calmly as I checked my backpack, which I carried on my back. Gob stopped for a moment and shooed me away with his hand. "It's on the house, you don't need to pay for anything here."

I nodded and made my way back to the table with my food and drink, pulling up a chair. I sat down comfortably and began eating. On the table, I found a good chunk of chicken with some salad and a couple of bread slices.

The drink placed next to me was a beer. "Serving beer to minors?" I muttered quietly so nobody could hear me.

But then I remembered that in this world, the laws of my previous one don't apply. Here, fourteen-year-olds are considered mature enough to drink and even engage in other adult activities, which was kind of unsettling for me.

But when you look on the other side of it, the adventurer life is known to be short and much more dangerous. Having such a perilous way of living only means that whoever follows it is mature enough for that kind of stuff.

Being able to kill and witness blood and gore in the dungeon is hardcore enough to make even someone who is fourteen or younger mature.

While I was happily enjoying my nice food and drink, a mysterious hooded man sat at the table with me. For the moment, I couldn't see his face. I turned my eyes to Gob for a second and saw that he was watching me with anticipation.

"Hello, young adventurer, mind if I take a seat?" The voice, which I immediately recognized, spoke from beneath the dark-cloaked robe.

"No problem at all, want some?" Deciding to play along, I offered the man a piece of chicken, which seemed to surprise him for a moment.

"Very kind of you, but no thanks, ahem..." The next moment, he took down his hood, revealing his divine face. It was Hermes, a blonde-haired, young-looking god who liked to make mischief and poke his nose where it didn't belong.

"Well, I should introduce myself then. My name is Hermes! As you may or may not know, I'm one of the gods who descended upon the mortal realm!" He waved his hands in the air, presenting himself as some sort of noble.