Duncan still had a head full of doubts, but he followed Zeus's advice without arguing.
According to Zeus, the "divinity-like" trace on Duncan—though useless for actually wielding any power in the Lower World—still carried a faint deterrent effect. Low-level monsters and wild beasts would instinctively avoid him. But if Duncan left Zeus's protection in this middle-of-nowhere forest, anything could happen. In a place this remote, you didn't get second chances.
In the world of DanMachi, monsters didn't exist only in the Dungeon.
They appeared all across the continent. Most could be traced back to the Dungeon—creatures that had escaped and spread—but in areas rich with magic, those escapees could gather and form dangerous clusters.
Bell, for his part, was fascinated by the "new big brother" who had suddenly appeared.
It made sense. At six or seven years old, Bell barely saw anyone outside of Zeus all year—he could probably count the strangers he'd met on two hands. Now an older boy, close enough in age to feel like a companion rather than an adult, had shown up out of nowhere.
Bell was practically vibrating with excitement. He even brought out a stack of storybooks—hero tales recorded in neat print—and insisted on reading them together.
Oddly enough, the god who had tossed Duncan into this world—whether out of kindness or some other motive—had also poured language and literacy into his mind.
It wasn't "translation."
It was deeper than that: Duncan could listen, speak, read, and write as if he'd grown up with the language. Proof of it was simple—the words on the page hadn't magically turned into Chinese. He was reading their script as-is, as though it were natural.
Even so, the first few days were rough.
Everything had to be done by hand. No modern conveniences, no tools that made life effortless. Duncan often found himself standing there, unsure what to do next, because the rhythm of survival was nothing like the rhythm of a city.
Bell, despite being only six or seven, showed an almost startling level of competence. Most chores around the house were handled by him alone, with practiced ease.
Zeus's only "job" was bringing in food.
Duncan's saving grace was that he could cook.
After Zeus tried his food, the old man made a unilateral decision: from then on, the household meals would be Duncan's responsibility.
Duncan accepted without complaint. "No work, no food" was a fair rule—especially when Bell, younger than him by years, worked so hard without being asked. If Duncan sat around eating for free, he'd need a face thick enough to stop a knife.
One detail kept gnawing at him: Zeus didn't seem to want Bell to become an adventurer.
Or rather, Zeus didn't want Bell to become the adventurer of a "Zeus Familia." He even continued hiding the fact that he was a god. Duncan had tried probing once, carefully—only to be crushed into silence by Zeus's wordless stare.
Half a month passed like that.
By the time Duncan could finally handle the routine without stumbling, Zeus called both boys over and announced he would be going to a nearby village to buy grain.
The forest provided meat and wild vegetables, but flour and bread? Those only came from human hands.
Duncan had wondered how bags of flour ever appeared in a place this barren. Now he had his answer.
Zeus said the trip would take two or three days.
When it had been just Bell, they'd gone together. This time, Zeus didn't take Bell along. He only told them to stay inside, not to wander, and not to do anything stupid.
Bell nodded with the calm familiarity of a child who had lived through this before.
Another day passed—quiet and almost comfortable.
Without Zeus around, there was no one to "serve," no silent pressure in the air. The two of them ate, slept, and read.
Playing in the dirt was something Duncan felt he'd outgrown twice over, but Bell seemed perfectly suited for it. The way Bell kept calling him "big brother" gave Duncan a strange warmth he couldn't quite explain. As an only child, he'd never felt that kind of closeness before.
Then—
A metallic clink.
Since coming to this world, Duncan's senses had sharpened. In a wilderness like this, metal was rare—so rare that the sound stood out like a shout.
He turned toward it.
Two figures were walking side by side toward the cabin. Both wore cloaks, both dressed like adventurers, their faces hidden beneath hoods.
And their direction made one thing very clear.
They weren't passing through.
"Bell—inside. Now," Duncan hissed.
He grabbed Bell's arm and pulled him toward the door.
There was only this cabin out here. No other houses, no nearby neighbors. If someone came this way, they had a purpose—and purpose in the wilderness rarely meant anything good.
Two kids, not even twenty years old combined, couldn't "hide" in a place like this. Their only hope was that Zeus's cabin had some kind of protection—some leftover trick, some unseen barrier, something.
They shoved the door open—
—and a massive hand clamped down on Duncan's forearm.
Duncan froze.
A burly man stood inches from him, as if he'd teleported. He'd been over a hundred meters away just a heartbeat earlier.
No footsteps.
No rustle.
Only a sudden presence, like danger made flesh.
"Why are there two?" the man muttered, sounding genuinely surprised. He turned his head slightly, speaking to the person behind him—who was still walking forward at a normal pace.
Only when they drew close did Duncan see them clearly.
The hulking man's eyes were… wrong.
Scar tissue ran viciously across the area where his eyes should have been, his pupils pale and dead like a blind man's. Yet his grip on Duncan's wrist was precise—tight enough to control, not tight enough to injure.
A red-and-black greatsword was strapped across his back.
Combined with his build and the pressure he radiated, it made Duncan's breathing turn shallow. This wasn't Zeus's divine presence.
This was the aura of a true combat monster—the kind of person your instincts screamed at you to avoid.
Behind him was a woman with a graceful figure. Her face was still hidden under her hood, and because Duncan stood slightly higher on the cabin step, he couldn't see her features clearly.
But he could feel her gaze.
It didn't matter that she hadn't lifted her head—her eyes seemed to pierce straight through the cloak and lock onto Bell behind him.
"…It's the other one," she murmured softly. "So similar… truly similar…"
Duncan stepped in front of Bell instinctively, shielding him.
"Hello," Duncan forced out, fighting to keep his voice steady. "May I ask what you're here for?"
The man didn't answer. Instead, he looked Duncan up and down with interest.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Duncan," he replied quickly. "Bell's… big brother."
"Big brother?" The man's brow furrowed. He glanced back at the woman.
"Did Meteria have two children?"
"How could she?" the woman answered flatly. "She died not long after giving birth to Bell."
Duncan's mind raced. They know Bell. They even know his mother's name.
"I'm not his blood brother," Duncan blurted. "The old man found me and picked me up. I'm a few years older, so Bell calls me 'big brother.'"
The man paused, then asked, "Where's the old man?"
"He went to the nearby village to buy food," Duncan answered honestly.
Silence stretched for a moment.
Then the man spoke, low and decisive.
"…This isn't a place to talk. Go inside."
He released Duncan's wrist and pulled off his cloak.
A rugged, bold face emerged—red-brown short hair, a matching beard, and those horrific scars across both eyes. He looked around forty, but the power in his frame felt like something honed over a lifetime of killing.
"I'm Zald," he said. "The old man's Familia."
Behind him, the woman removed her cloak as well.
Duncan's breath caught.
She was stunning—so beautiful it felt unreal. Long silver-gray hair spilled down like a waterfall as the hood fell away, framing a figure that could have stepped out of a masterpiece.
Her eyes were the strangest part: mismatched irises, luminous and sharp.
And those eyes didn't care about Duncan at all.
They were fixed on Bell—so intensely it was as if Bell was the only thing in the world.
"Alfia," she said simply.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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