Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

Five months later, after traveling through rough mountainous terrain, The Artemis Familia, along with Cirrus and Nox, are heading to another well-established town.

"The one coming up should be the 34th village, right?" said Nox.

"Yes, I hope this one has a water source. I’ve been wanting to take a bath since 3 villages ago," Artemis said.

"I could go for a bath…" Rethusa said, trailing off into thought.

"I just wanna sleep on a comfy bed," Cirrus said. "Maybe eat some food I didn’t have to hunt, kill, skin, degut, and cook over an open fire with no fucking salt like a damn savage."

"Ahhh…" they all salivated.

"W-well let's hurry then! It shouldn’t be too far." Artemis said hesitantly.

Arriving at the village, many of the villagers came with weapons.

"W-w-what are you doing here?" they shouted.

"Whoa! Whoa! What’s going on?" Cirrus shouted.

"Y-you know full well!" one of them shouted.

"Please tell us!" Artemis shouted. "My name is Artemis! In my name as Goddess of the Hunt, I promise you we will bring you no harm!"

"A-Artemis!" they all shouted.

"The one the goddess Loviatar and her Familia have been keeping an eye for!"

"!!"

They were surprised. It would seem they had found a solid lead.

"Oi Dwarf, why was she looking for Artemis?" Nox said.

"W-well, they just said you were trouble, but… after they stole all of our food and took all the skilled miners and fighters of our village, we usually had to make people leave by force."

"… Seeing that fork on your broom, I assume we are the first ones to come here?" Cirrus said.

"Y-yes…" they said, putting their heads down.

"How about you tell us what’s going on? We could help?"

The people lowered their weapons, and they talked about what happened: A few months ago, a Familia came in, the Loviatar Familia, and took over.

At first, they were kind and generous, making potions and medicine to help many of the villages. Then a few months later, they got more aggressive in how they did things and eventually just flat out took their young and strong to Hecaton Village, which is home to the area’s best smiths and warriors that isn’t on any maps because of their nature of secrecy and being so far into the mountains.

The Familia would come to villages and take their supplies and return to the Hecaton Village, which is in a natural fortress. The villagers even showed where they lived. It surprised the hunting party to see such towering mountains.

"… Uh… really?" Phi said. "Is it one of those that’s close??"

"Sadly, no…" said one of the weary villagers. "It takes about 4 days to reach the village at the fastest, but for you who have a God's blessing, you should get there half the time! And bring back our people!"

"We will head out tomorrow!" Artemis said. "You have our word! But for today, we are weary. If it is not too much, we would like to stay here for the night?"

"That is fine!" they said.

"Come, I will set you up in a house for the night!" said a villager.

Watching out into the cool, fresh mountain air with some meat and bread with melted cheese, Cirrus looks out into the majesty of the mountain range while the girls all take a bath.

‘I kinda want to race up there and jump down…’

Nom!

As he sits, he takes out his Occulus, and it begins to glow.

"Hey Fels, we finally found the Loviatar Familia, but they are up on a mountain that has no top."

"That is… troublesome. Can you get through?"

"Uhh… don’t know. From where I’m looking and the path to it, we will be heading into a trap where they can circle and surround us from how the locals described the mountain as a natural fortress."

"So you will have to go in alone then. Has there been any sign of the monster being released?"

"No, from what it says in the text, it's a mountain-sized monster, and well… seeing these mountains, I can see where it’s been sealed, but they are accelerating the time to undo the seal. Many of the villagers were hit by the Familia, taking their young and strong to help whatever it is that is sealing the monster."

"That is troublesome… will you be using all of your power in case they release this monster? "

"Is that a rhetorical question? Of course, I am. One is for the safety of people, and two… well, I see this as my ticket to level 7!" he said with a smile.

"Be careful and if this doesn’t go well… I have good and bad news. "

Cirrus froze in place, looking at the crystal.

"… What? What good and bad news!?"

"Recently we found that a known Evilus Familia has escaped outside of Orario along with half of her children. They are the Alecto Familia."

"… What’s the good news?"

"… We got word from Hermes that they went to Telskyura, whether they're able to get by the Amazons or not it will buy you time to go and find them or the Amazon’s will do the job for us… but in the worst case, you will have another chance to level up."

"… Well, I’m going to bed; tomorrow is a big day."

Cirrus said his good night to Fels and left. After Artemis and the rest of the girls left the bath, Cirrus took his and felt refreshed for the next day when the mountains moved.