Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.3] Quest 272- Next Move

Two days later.

“And that’s what I had confirmed,” Cirrus said in a meeting with Finn.

“Hmm… so they're deep in the dungeon and we don’t know how far…” said Gareth.

“With Filvis’s information along with Thetis’s, we know their base is on or beyond the 80th floor. Unfortunately, anything below the 61st floor is practically unknown to us with no maps.” Riveria said.

“In any case, we have time. I doubt the birth of a spirit of my caliber would be born so soon.” Said Nox.

“Which is why we built this!” said Circe, taking out a clunky magic tool. “A Spirit Radar!”

“… It looks a bit rushed?” Riveria said, looking at it.

“Well, it’s a prototype. I will make improvements to it to detect stronger Spirits than Thetis. When Cirrus goes down on his next expedition, he will use it and bring back data.”

“So you’re going down, huh? When’s the date?” asked Finn.

“On the 22nd of the month, I’m simply going through the logistics and supplies along with the routes we're going to take as well as which people are going up against the Floor Bosses to gain experience,” Cirrus said, scratching his head. “Fuck, I really need to train up some people to make this shit easy.”

“Do you not?”

“No, most of the Familia are all combat oriented, which leaves a majority of the work to fall on me.”

“Well, you have to manage the district as well, right?” said Gareth.

“Not exactly. The other Familia picked up the slack once they got their Familia in operating standards. They lightened my load immensely. Well, I need to get going. Coffee is the only thing fueling me these days.”

He, Nox, and Circe bid their farewells and returned to what they usually do around this time. Cirrus returned home, finish up some work, and went to sleep.

Nox went to the musical groups in the entertainment district and have fun, and Circe went back to Lenoa’s shop and worked to improve the gloves and the Spirit Radar.

Miach’s Clinic.

“Mmm….”

“What’s wrong Cassandra?” asked Daphne. “Is it that dream you had?”

“Y-yes… A bottle shall turn the Sacred Hind to the Demon of Sands. Giants and Devils shall walk upon the land and tremble from the demon’s presence.”

“… Whatever we need to deliver this box of potions to the Artemis Familia, so I need you not to fumble alright,” Daphne said, dismissing Cassandra’s words.

“A-alright… oh, you forgot one.” She said, grabbing a dark green potion. “Strange? It’s different from usual?”

“Naaza must have used something different. Just put it in.”

“Should we not talk to her about—”

“Come on, let’s go! I’m sure it’s nothing!”

The two leave carrying the box.

‘I hope it wasn’t anything important!’ Cassandra thought, having a bad feeling.

A few minutes later, Naaza enters the room.

“Hm♪ Hm♪ Hm—?” Naaza looked around the room with concern. “Oh no, no, no, no…”

She looked around the lab where she helped make the potions, but it was gone.

“Naaza? Is something wrong?” asked Miach, walking in.

“Lord Miach, can you help me look for a potion? It is darker in its color.”

“Sure, but… why do you wanna look for it? Is it harmful?”

“It’s, um… a side project I was working on, and I managed to finish it. I think?”

“And what does it do?” he asked while looking around.

“It, um… makes you y-younger.”

Miach stops and slowly turns to Naaza. Her ears were bright red.

“… Why did—“

“I wanted us to make more money!” she shouted.

“… Naaza, I know that’s a lie.”

“..." Naaza was avoiding her gods gaze.

"Naaza. Did it have to do with why you asked for my blood?"

"...Possibly."

Moonlight Tower.

“Here is your order!” said Daphne.

“Thank you for the delivery.” Said a guard. “We shall take it from here and check if everything is in order.”

“Alright, do you mind if we rest inside?”

“Not at all. We will give you the money once we check it.”

Daphne and Cassandra go and wait on the 1st floor of the 1st tower.

Down in the storage room of the 2nd tower.

“Captain, the delivery of potions came.”

“Thanks, you can return to your posts.” Said Cirrus.

The guards leave.

“So how many potions did you make Naaza?” Cirrus said to himself as he opens it. “Hmm… 1… 4… 8… 101? There is one extra?” Cirrus checks it again and finds one that’s different from the rest. “… Why is this one darker than the rest? Hmm, well, I’ll just hand it over to Daphne and Cassandra.”

Cirrus puts it in the shadows of his sleeves and left the storage room.

He walked to the 1st tower and saw the two adventures waiting.

“Cirrus.” Said, Daphne. “Was everything in order?”

“Yes, but—“ he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a dark green potion. “This one was an extra. Could you take it back to Naaza?”

“I mean sure, but you can just give us a few extra Valis more for it?”

“I would, but seeing as this one is different. I rather like to know why it’s darker?”

“M-maybe it’s it has to do with my dream!” Cassandra said out loud.

“Dream?”

“Don’t worry about her, sir!” Daphne quickly stepped in. “She has weird dreams every now and again.”

“T-they are not dreams! I-I predicted Bell would win the Wargames!”

“Coincidence!”

As the two argued, Cirrus thought to himself.

‘Daphne and Cassandra… hmm, they were in Apollo’s Familia, so are they ‘Them’. I wanted to see if Cassandra had what the myth had of her as well and…’

Cirrus looks to see Daphne disregarding Cassandra’s dreams.

“… Tell me, Cassandra, what was in this dream?” Cirrus said, curious.

“H-huh?” they stopped and looked at Cirrus.

“Y-you will believe in my dreams!” Cassandra’s eyes began to shine with happiness.

“Tell what this dream is, and we’ll see.”

“Sir, I don’t mean to be rude, but please do not indulge her in her delusions,” Daphne said.

“It’s fine, I’ll play along. Go on Cassandra.”

“O-okay! In my dream, I dreamt about a bottle, and in it was a sacred hind. The bottle then was filled and from it formed a green eye of a demon with sand around it.”

‘Holy fuck, it’s that me!? Shit! I fucking hate prophecies like these! Do I do or don’t do anything? Something will cause it to happen! Fuck!’

In Greek myth, when a prophecy is given, it is always fulfilled. Be it by accident or the actions spurred by its knowledge that lead people to try to stop, which causes it to happen in the first place.

“I see… hmm… that is something. I can see why people find it hard to believe.”

“Sir, you actually believe in her weird dreams?” Daphne said.

“Well, I see no harm in them, so long as you think them through and try to find some meaning in them, it could be fun to try and pin down the meaning.”

“Well, we should get back.” Daphne holds out her hand and Cirrus hands her the potion as well as the money. “Here, hold it.” Daphne hands it to Cassandra as she puts the money away.

“T-thank you for hearing me out—“ as she walked forward, she tripped over her own feet.

Cirrus quickly catches her, but—

Crack!!

The dark green potion breaks on Cirrus’s head.

“S-sorry!!! I am so, so, so, sorry!!!” Cassandra jumps back in apology.

“No, it’s fine, it’s not like…” as he touches the contents he realized something like this could be it. “You girls go on ahead. I’ll need to go and take a quick shower. I finished up my work for today.” He said with a slight smile.

“Sure thing! C’mon, Cassandra! Oh, and the potion is on us.” She drops a few valis to what the market price for potions is and left with Cassandra.

Cassandra continued to bow profusely as she left.

As soon as they left, Cirrus rushed up the tower to his room and quickly began to take a shower.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

He quickly washed up, scrubbing the potion off him.

As he gets out, he looks at himself in the mirror.

“Huff! huff! huff! Hecton any changes?”

A small head pops out under the shadow of his arm.

“None from what I can notice, sir. It was just a dream she had.”

“Dreams hold some meaning, Hecton. They like your subconscious telling you something or… I don’t know, okay? They just hold some meaning to the person!”

“Well, you seem to be fine, sir. Your body has shown no noticeable differences.”

“… I’m going to take a nap; I’ve been working too long.”

Hecton helped cloth Cirrus as he walks to the bed and gets under the covers.

‘Cassandra… cursed by Apollo so that nobody would believe her prophecies… I can’t dismiss her words so lightly.’

Cirrus closes his eyes and falls asleep.

An hour or two later.

“Fuu~ What a long day.” Said Artemis, stretching.

“Yeah, but the new members are showing progress!” said Ai, noticing a lump in the bed. “And Cirrus is early to bed, as usual.”

Ai began to take off her boots and some layers of clothes to get more comfortable.

“Aren’t you going to take a bath?”

“I’ll do that later. I just wanna… hm?” as Ai gets in she noticed Cirrus wasn’t taking up the space he usually does. “Cirrus, are you—!!” she moved the cover to find a small child. “C-Cirrus?” she said, looking at the familiar face, Hera’s face.

“Hmm…” the young Cirrus rolls around in bed and Ai could get a better look at him.

His face lost the maturity and masculinity of his 20s and returned to match Hera’s beauty.

“A-Artemis, could you check if he has a status,” Ai said, slowly moving Cirrus so as not to wake him.

“…” Artemis looks at him with some confusion. “Yes. Move him slowly and carefully.”

Ai turns him to show his back. Artemis opens and looks at his status to show that it was actually Cirrus, and his status was still that of a level 8.

“I-it is him, but… how?” Artemis said, hiding his status. “Hecton, do you know what happened?”

His shadow moved and Hecton popped up.

“Sir Cirrus was meeting with two people from Miach’s Familia about the potions they deliver, and he found one extra. They discussed about a dream one of them had and the girl accidentally spilled a potion on Cirrus. After they left he quickly went and washed up, he asked to see if his body was any different, and at the time there wasn’t but… it would seem his body has regressed back to around 7 or 8 years of age at such a rate I didn’t notice. I am ashamed to have not notice.”

“I’ll go get them to come over!” Ai said, putting back on some of her clothes. “Art, can you look after him and call Fels? Who knows what might happen if he wakes up?”

“Alright, I’ll get Nox to come as well.”

Ai gets dressed enough and leaps from the top of the tower. She quickly runs down the tower and heads to Miach’s clinic.

“Haa…” Artemis sits next to him in bed. “You look so young.” She slowly parted his hair. “And you really do have Hera’s face. I can see why you always hide your appearance back then.”