Danmachi Side Story: Cat Tale Volume 1

Chapter 1 - A Stray

Of all the days to get caught out in the rain, today being one just made sense. He had just gotten rejected by yet another familia, the third one that he had attempted to join. It had been over two weeks since he heard from his first and second with their rejections. It seemed that even Discordia's dissonant disaster of a Familia didn't want him. Even their captain told him that he needed to get more experience in order to be more appealing to prospective Familias, but in order to safely enter the dungeon, he felt as though he needed to be in a Familia already, or at least have one that would allow him to join them on an adventure. But no, each of the three that he had been rejected by had something more important to do.
When it rained it poured he supposed.
At least his day was drawing to an end. He had just arrived to his temporary home that felt more and more like a permanent solution, the tower of Babel that sat at the center of Orario. The guild was kind enough to offer those without housing a place to stay until they got onto their feet. He hated the fact that it felt like his only friend was his guild advisor who offered the solution.
At least he had one thing keeping him grounded to this mortal coil. He had found a lone kitten outside of the guild the day that he arrived in Orario. She was sleeping amongst the plethora of packages that needed to be delivered that day, sat just outside the entrance to the guild. Wander, as he had named her, felt that the guild's weekly newsletter was the best place to sleep. He couldn't judge her too harshly, if Stark, his to be advisor, hadn't found him loitering out front with the small kitten, he would have been resigned to the same fate as she was. He was lucky to have her and looked forward to seeing her every day, no matter what life had thrown at him,
Today though, something stopped him as he was about to enter. Somehow, no one had noticed a woman sleeping amongst the packages. To their credit, she was somewhat buried under the packages, but that just meant that whoever put them there completely ignored the fact that a person was right there. He hurried over to her side and cleared off the haphazardly stacked mail.
When he got a closer look, he could tell that the beautiful woman was completely out of place. She had tanned skin and dark brown hair, cat ears nestled comfortably atop the unkempt mane. Her clothes were a beige tube-top with an ornate design wrapping around the middle that hugged her modest bust tightly and white underwear that was obfuscated by a sheer tan sash. The only thing remarkable about her outfit were the sparse pieces of gold jewelry. A few rings and bracelets, and a chain around her neck terminating between her breasts. She looked like she was either homeless, or had just escaped the pleasure district. Both were very possible, but she seemed like the kind of person that Ishtar Familia wouldn't let out of their sights. He had heard stories about how scary and possessive they could be. That, among other reasons, were why hers was at the bottom of the list of Familias that he wanted to join.
Now with a better look at her, she seemed to be barely breathing, the only tell was the slight rise and fall of her breast. She made hardly a noise otherwise. That fact alone worried him. He knew that the mail got put out pretty early in the day, usually just after he left to explore Orario's ever winding streets and look for prospective Familia in need of more people. If she had been in this state for that long...
He couldn't leave her out here like that. He knew far too well what it was like to be without a warm bed or a roof over his head. If he could do something about it, he wanted to make sure that she avoided that fate as well.
"Let's get you inside..." he murmured to himself as he gently picked her up. She was very light but that fact didn't surprise him. He had been doing as much physical activity as he could to prepare for the dungeon, so his muscles were far from underutilized. It also helped that she was a shorter woman, probably a head shorter than he was. Her skin felt warm at least, which reassured him that she was still in good health, at least to some degree. Her utter inability to be roused though, even after being picked up didn't evoke much confidence within him.
He carried her inside and luckily he saw that Stark was still there for the day. He was very easy to pick out, his red hair reminded him of a cute blacksmith that he had seen while out shopping one day. Stark would know what to do. He always knew what to do. He was the one who helped him get his life on track after all.
The wait to see Stark was longer than he would have liked it to be. It was the longest five minutes of his life. In that time he could feel the entire lobby's eyes on him. Peering through him and judging him for sins he hadn't committed. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but randomly showing up with an unconscious woman was far from the best look. At least Stark was there. Stark would be able to clear up any misconceptions about him. After another minute where he decided to try his best to ignore the world around him, Stark finally called him over.
"C'mon over Ophi," he waved at him, his voice wavered as he finally noticed the woman in his advisee's arms. "Whatcha got there?" He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "You just find a sleeping girl and decide you want to take her home? The cat I can let slide, but buddy, I don't think you can adopt someone like that..." He stared down the bridge of his nose at the two of them as Ophi stood on the other side of the reception desk.
Ophi's hair fell into his face and started tickling his nose. He hated when it did that, but now it was ten times worse without a free hand to move it out of the way. He shifted the woman in a fruitless attempt to get the stray hair out of the way.
Stark sighed and stood up. He walked to Ophi's side of the desk and leaned against it. "Why don't we get you somewhere that you can put her down. We can use the office in the back, there's a chair that'll work for now." Before Ophi could even respond, he moved back behind the counter and held the gate for his ward.
Ophi quickly followed behind him and the three of them made their way to the back door and into the office. Luckily no one else was using it, otherwise Ophi would have died. He didn't know how many more incredulous stares he could take before his heart gave out.
Inside, Ophi found the chair that Stark was referring to and sat the girl down. The advisor had already taken a seat behind a hefty looking wooden desk. Something about these advisors and desks...
Ophi sat down across from Stark and waited to hear what he had to say.
"So, as I said before. You can't just take in a stray girl like she's some other cat, man. Just because she's a beast human doesn't–"
"You're soundin' like a broken record man, c'mon this is serious!" He finally was able to brush his too long, deep green hair away from his face, back behind his ear. "I found her out front. Whoever did the mail today just stacked some stuff on top of her," he looked over his shoulder back to her, making sure she was still there.
"Heh, so you're telling me she's a stray just like Wander?" He laughed at his own joke. When he finally processed the rest of what Ophi had told him though, he shook his head.
Stark looked at Ophi and blinked. He looked like he was trying to remember something with all the power his brain could muster.
"She wasn't there this morning. I was the one who put out the mail."
Ophi did a double take. "Why have you been here all day? I didn't see you when I left."
"Eina asked if I could cover for her. Something about a stomach bug. I had a ton of her work that I needed to catch up on, including the mail." He waved a hand in front of his face. "That's neither here nor there. Her not being there this morning really isn't either. She's here now, and I trust you. I know you're not that desperate for attention... yet." He snickered and cleared his throat. "I can let someone from Asclepius Familia know and they can send over someon–"
As he was getting ready to stand up the door flung open. Through it walked a sharply dressed androgynous woman with long, mint green hair and golden eyes. She scanned the room, landing on Ophi for a brief moment before finishing her inspection and finding the woman. As she strutted over to her, Ophi couldn't take his eyes off of her. He felt his heart flutter in his chest. He wanted to say something but the words caught in his throat. He was totally enthralled by her radiance.
He watched as she began her silent assessment of the patient in the corner of the room.
"Who is that?" He whispered across the desk to Stark when he was finally able to peel his eyes away from her.
A bead of sweat rolled down Stark's face. "That's Lady Asclepius herself...I don't know how she knew we needed her..." he replied in an even softer tone. "Even worse, she only makes an appearance when someone is on the brink of death or wh–"
"You," Asclepius's cold voice commanded both men's attention. When they looked to her, she was pointing at Ophi.
He slid out of his chair into a kneel, not even wanting to stand in the presence of someone so immaculate.
All he could muster was her name. "Lady Asclepius?"
"Do you have any idea who this woman is?" She asked, the weight of her words crashing into him, suppressing anything he could possibly say.
He shook his head no, still unable to raise it to look at her.
"This woman... no, this goddess, has not been registered nor spotted in Orario prior to today." She walked over and peered down at him. "I shall take you two back to my Familia's headquarters and I shall treat her there. I have questions for you while she recovers."
Ophi swallowed hard and nodded. He was completely unable to speak now that she was this close to him. He hoped and prayed that a nod was enough.
When she started walking away, he supposed it was.
"Meet me behind Babel once you have all of your affects in order. Make it quick though, I do not want her to draw too much attention." She turned and walked back to the stray goddess, sleeping soundly in the chair and picked her up. Once she was at the door, she nodded curtly to the men and left in silence.
When the door closed and the two were most certainly alone in the room, Stark still waited a few beats before he moved a muscle. When he did, it was to whistle as loud as possible.
"Damn, I couldn't tell if she hated your guts entirely or was ambivalent towards you! That's pretty impressive! I guess while you're gone I'll get you a will written up, just in case." He pulled out a pen and some paper. "I take it everything that you don't own goes to me?"
Ophi feigned laughter.
"Just make sure that Wander gets taken care of while I'm gone."
He stood up, his knees shaking much more than he expected, and dusted himself off. Waving goodbye to Stark, he sniffed the air as he walked to the door, hoping to see if he could catch the scent of Asclepius's perfume, but instead the air just smelled sterile. Like she had purified it just by being present. He liked it.