Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.4] Quest 336- Departure

Day of the departure.

Loki Familia.

"Don’t get into trouble, Vento," said her son.

"It’s Loki’s fault!" said Vento, who had his mother’s golden hair and his father’s ruby eyes.

"The kid is lying, Ais-tan!" said Loki.

"I wonder where he got that from." Said Riveria. "Ais, we need to get going."

"Hm, take care. We will come back." She kissed him on the forehead and left.

"You take care, alright, Penthesilea." Said Tione.

"I will!" said Penthesilea, an Amazoness, and daughter of Tione and Finn.

"That’s a good girl. I’ll be back as quickly as I can." She also kissed her forehead and ruffled her hair before leaving.

Loki and some of the weaker Familia stayed behind, waving off their members.

Hestia Familia.

"I’ll be back before you know it!" said Tiona.

"You’ll tell me how the fight went right!" said Hippolyta, daughter of Tiona and Bell.

"Of course! I’ll even try and bring you back a souvenir!"

"Thanks, Mom!" She went up and hugged her.

"Mom, please be careful." Said Natsune, who had her father’s white hair but her mother’s green eyes. She also has a pair of fox ears.

"Mom, will you be okay as well?" said Sétanta, a Pallum with chestnut hair and blue eyes,

"Don’t worry, I won’t be on the front lines; besides, I have your father and Bell to protect me," Lili said.

"I’ll be sure to keep them safe!" said Bell. "Lady Hestia, we will be back, all of us."

"I know you will, Bell, but remember to be extremely careful." She said it in a serious tone of voice. "I want you all to take this literally, as your life depends on it. Am I understood?"

"Yes!" they all shouted in unison.

‘I’m so glad I had Artemis give me pointers in leadership!’

Freya Familia.

"My goddess, we are off." Said Ottar.

"Ottar, you have my permission to use whatever force you deem necessary." Said Freya. "Return back to me."

"I will, as will the rest of the Familia."

"Promise us!" said Gersemi. "Promise Mom and my uncle Ottar!"

"We promise, kid," Allen said. "Who do you think we are?"

"One of Orario’s strongest Familia’s!!"

"Damn right, so wait for us to come back."

They watch as the strongest of their Familia leaves for the Raid.

"…Mom, will everything really be okay?"

"Yes, your uncle and father will be there," Freya said, looking at her child. "Let’s go back inside unless you wish to train?"

"I wanna train!"

Artemis Familia.

"Keep safe, you here," Cirrus said to Ryuu, Malion, Rethusa, and several other huntresses and hunters.

"No worries. I fought with the beast before." Said Malion. "And these weapons you made are finer than the ones we used."

"That’s good to hear," Said Rethusa. "I was a bit on edge, given that you and Cirrus aren’t coming along."

"You are plenty strong, Rethusa." Said Ryuu. "Besides, it is Cirrus and Ai who will be facing the Leviathan on their own."

"Knight of Knights, Lance, may or may not be joining." Said Ai. "Don’t worry though, me and Cirrus are very well experienced fighting on the sea! Even School District came over to Fuyuhama to help!"

"Um, do you mean at sea and School District?" said Bree. "And I thought the captain hated School District?"

Maritime Academic Institutions Special District, or simply School District for short, is a large ship named Hringhorni and is a world power. Its purpose originally was to help in the subjugation of the Leviathan, but since its death, the ship has been repurposed into a school to foster and nurture talent and send them to Orario. Lefiya was one of their students who, before she arrived in Orario and joined the Loki Familia, she was a level 2. In fact, the school sends their students to deal with international conflict when the need arises to allow them to grow stronger.

Truthfully, Cirrus never cared for School District as he saw it as a private school. Fels wanted to have Cirrus join but denied it as he saw them as a bunch of privileged kids who got in due to money; he also didn’t want people to see his face, and seeing as kids are curious, he was sure they would find out his heritage.

It wasn’t until later when the Poseidon Familia came to Fuyukusa and helped build Fuyuhama to be another port for the ship to dock, that he learned that the students were picked up from all around the world. He still didn’t like them. He found their goals well-intentioned, but he disliked the idea of just fostering those with talent. Thus he put time and money into the schools of Fuyukusa and then in Orario to raise and polish the rocks on the side of the road.

His actions subsequently affected School District as the number of applicants dropped significantly. Along with his actions within Yamato and Chyong, the eastern seaboard has more or less been rather peaceful.

"I do," Cirrus said. "Bunch of seafaring, pretentious assholes."

"Are you still mad they offered free education to Haku and Calli?" Ai said.

"It was basically them saying that we couldn’t do a good job! Hah! I should have sunk their fucking boat ages ago!"

"Now, now," Artemis said. "They are kind people."

"They aren’t very nice to the untalented."

"They have high criteria for their students; there is nothing wrong with that."

"Aside from excluding those they see as having zero talent and potential,"

"… Okay, you have a point there, but they still do put out good into the world."

"Fine…" Cirrus looked at his Familia. "They should get going."

"Hm." Artemis nodded.

"What do we say!!" Cirrus shouted loudly.

"FIGHT ON!!! FIGHT ON!!! FIGHT ON!!!" They stomped their feet on the ground, and the earth shook a bit from it.

"That’s what I like to hear, my children!" shouted Artemis. "Let the hunt begin!"

"UROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Knossos.

"So, are you guys ready?" said Lyd.

"We are facing the Behemoth. I don’t think we can be more ready than we are now." Said Kalion. "Actually, now he would be more excited than us."

They look up ahead to see the Xeno Champion, Asterius.

"Let’s hurry. I don’t want to miss this battle." Asterius said, with a smile full of excitement, held the axe Cirrus had made for him.

"You have a charming smile, as always." Said Ray.

"That is why Weine is the face of the Xeno." Asterius gets up. "Now if you all are finished, let’s move. The first step to coexistence lies in battle."

"Xeno!!!" Kalion shouted. "Let us bathe under the sun and fight for our rights!!!"

"UUURRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" they all roared.

Several of the strongest adventures of Orario left for the raid that would subjugate the Behemoth.