And due to me not being in Orario during that time I was not sure of how much bad the incident was or its aftermath except from what I could see or hear.
It was officially announced by the guild that the number of deaths were more than forty thousand and still counting, even more people were injured. It was almost like the city that was known as the center of the world was on its last legs.
...
While thinking about the Orario from a month before and other random things, I finished the skewers which I had brought from the stall, and my final destination for today was in sight, the famous Stardust Garden, Astraea Familia's home.
----------------------------
I was currently in the Stardust Garden's guest room waiting for Noin Unic, a Level 4 Adventurer and a childhood friend of mine.
"Yo Light, seeing you after such a long time, how are you doing?"
The door to the guest room opened, and a girl of about 16 years of age entered the room.
The girl, with brown hair in a bob cut, was wearing a burgundy dress reaching her thighs, with gold trim at the collar and hemline, a slight flaring at the waist line.
She was wearing a white bolero jacket above the dress with a high collar and the same gold trim matching that of her dress, and paired with the dress were gray socks that reach up to the mid-thigh and a pair of simple brown boots.
"Hi, Noin, I'm good, and meeting after such a long time? Didn't we just meet last week?" I stood up greeting her, but seeing that it was only her and no one else sat back down of the sofa.
"Don't ask me about it, those bastards from the Evilus have started acting up again, it was just a month from that time and they were already sighted near the magic stone factories, we were patrolling there along with the Ganesha Familiar members, and today morning there was a report about some people being killed from the guild. Our captain and a few others went to the guild and are yet to come back. I feel like a entire month has gone by instead of a week." sitting opposite to me, she started sharing her situation like always.
I could only keep quiet not able to reply anything.
"Anyway enough about me, why did you come to meet me today? Don't tell me you miss this big sister already? Or are you at the stage where your curious about the opposite gender?" Perhaps sensing that the mood was somewhat somber, Noin tried to lighten it by asking about me by cracking some jokes.
"No, don't even joke about it, I'm not here for those kind of things, I want to get some training in combat as you suggested last week, and to get some info about the dungeon and the monsters on the first few floors in detail, if possible..." I replied to her sitting up straight.
"Haa, where did the boy who wanted to become a merchant when he grew up go to, and also why do you so badly want to become a adventurer? Wait, don't tell me you already went to the dungeon, did you?" Noin spoke with a fake look of sadness, "Then you have already joined a familia, which one did you join?"
"Ahem, yes, I went to the dungeon, only the first floor, and no, I still haven't joined any familia." I started speaking only to lower my voice to a tiny whisper by the end.
But a Level 4 with advanced senses she was able to hear my words clearly.
Looking at Noin's face going from fake concern at the start to neutral and then serious, I gulped.
"Only the beginning road on the first floor and not too deep, I was just at the entrance, so don't worry" I immediately explained to her.
After a few seconds of silence, and a deep sigh, Noin spoke, "This bastard, I already told you not to go to the dungeon before getting Falna, and you still went to the dungeon, do you even know that the dungeon can be dangerous on the first floor."
"But seeing you today, it seems that you were careful with your trip to the dungeon, but still remember the dungeon should never be underestimated. And also remember your sister asked me to look after you, don't forget that."
"Anyway, if you want to go to the dungeon again, I can't stop you, but remember to be careful. For the information about the dungeon monsters, I have to check with my captain and the others, and for your training you can meet me this Saturday morning at 8 am here only, we'll decide the timings then."
I was just nodding along with her words, that would have been true if I was a normal person, but as a person with a system, it was almost blasphemy if I did not try to grow stronger and followed a slow path.
After that, we spoke about some more things, like my three months stay in Altena, and the things that were different there compared to here in Orario. A bit about the current situation in Orario.
...
"Noin, I have something to be done at home, let's talk on....."
Almost an hour had passed by just like that as we were chatting, and just as I was about to say that I had to leave, Noin grabbed my arm.
"No, you're not leaving, didn't you talk about training, I'll give you a demonstration class today, let's go to the garden outside. Anyway if I'm not wrong, you'll just go to the dungeon no?"
As I listened to her speak, a sense of alarm bells began ringing in my head, which made me try to free my hand from her grip and try to smooth talk her, "No, what are you talking about, why would I go to the dungeon now, I'm just going home to rest."
But no matter how hard I tried, how could a Level 1 adventurer escape from a level 4 adventurer.
"No, even if you want to give me training, I don't have my sword now."
"No worries, there are plenty of training swords here." Noin dryly commented.
"No but still how can a normal person fight against a Level 4" I spoke, still trying to escape, after all no matter whether I have a system or not, fighting against a level 4 right now is just like throwing an egg against a rock, I still could not completely control Acceleration and Float magic.
Even if I could increase my speed to that of a level 5 using my skills, it was only for an instant and in a straight path.
I wanted to grow strong, but not feel pain after all I was not a masochist. If it the training session after a few days, I would have at least grown stronger after a few trips to the dungeon and would have been able to defend against her or would have improved my proficiency in the acceleration skill so that I could evade her attacks. But what can I do, I was dragged over without any choice to the so called trial training session.
...
One corner of the Stardust Garden had a open space, a garden with open space (practice field) in middle, surrounded on two sides with huge three story walls, with enormous windows on the approximate second floor, and finally a glass house in a corner of the garden.
The walls and the glass house were covered with greenery and the symbol of their Familia was etched on one of the walls.
There were a few training dummies and a few wooden swords scattered about, and it seemed that many of the Astraea Familia members were not present, except for another brown haired girl I had seen earlier, who was the one who opened the door and showed me the guest room, as Noin was able to drag me to the open field without any hesitation. After all, the Astraea Familiar was only girls and if they were there, she needed to at least check if I could enter or not.
"Noin, what about your familia members, is it okay for you to drag me here like this?" Instead of thinking too much, I directly asked her about it.
"No need to worry, except for me and Ryana, no one else is there. Enough about that, now pick up a sword." She picked up a wooden sword, asking me to do the same.
Now that it has come to this, I resigned myself and picked up a wooden sword, thinking of this as an extra training session and resolved to take it seriously.
I then got into the basic sword position which I had learned and activated the Spatial Sense skill and looking ahead, I could see that Noin had also gotten into a basic sword stance.