Danmachi: Westward Cloud [Complete]

[Vol.3] Quest 274- Youth

Later that night.

“So… This is your room, huh?” Cirrus said, looking around her room in the tower.

“Yup! It’s filled with stuff over the years!”

Cirrus could spot several kinds of instruments and musical sheets along with lyrics either not finished, crossed out, or erased so much it ripped the paper. There were also balls of crumbled-up paper scattered around. It was a very messy room.

“… Were we a musical band or something? There are a lot of instruments here?”

“We were! We had a lot of fun with it! Oh, I forgot you made another contract with another Sprite.”

“I did? Where are they?”

“She’s busy. She primarily stays with Lenoa helping take care of her and stuff. It’s fine, really. They like each other, a real couple of peas in a pod.”

“Can I get a name?”

“Her name is Circe, she’s about… Hmm, she is slightly taller than you. She has reddish hair kinda like when the sun sets over the horizon.”

“Ah… Okay, I got a picture of her… So Yawn! Is she as strong as you? And where did I meet her?”

“Those are all questions for tomorrow.” She turns into an owl and lands on the bed.

‘For now, let’s sleep. Everything you want to know will be answered after a good night’s rest, alright?’

“Fine…” Cirrus gets into bed with Nox. “… Night Nox.” He closes his eyes and falls asleep.

‘Goodnight Cirrus.’

As Cirrus falls asleep, Nox feels a sense of nostalgia as it has been a long time since they shared a bed. The closeness they shared back then was something that was very close to her heart.

Then a slight shake.

‘Oh… Right, you still are suffering from those nightmares…’

A sense of bitterness found its way into this sweet moment for her.

The next morning.

Creak!

The door to Nox’s room slowly opens and a pair of white fox ears popped out.

“Sneak…” Ai slowly enters the room. “Sneak, sneak…” she tip-toed to the bed slowly and she notices Nox wasn’t in bed. “Fufu, maybe I can sneak him into our bed!” she said quietly as she moves the covers to find Cirrus curled up with Nox comfortably like a child’s plushie.

‘Well damn… Well, I can at least have a picture!’

Ai takes out a magic tool resembling a camera and took a picture of Cirrus sleeping with Nox.

“Give me a copy as well.”

“!” Ai slightly jumped up as Artemis snuck up behind her. “You scared me. Were you right behind me the whole time?”

“I came around the time you moved the blanket. So, did you get a picture?”

“I did. Fufu look.” After a bit, the magic tool gave out a picture.

“Make sure to keep it in a secret album!”

“Hm! Hm!”

“Mmm… What are you doing?” Cirrus said, waking up.

“!!” They quickly hid the magic tool and picture.

“N-nothing!” said Ai.

“Yes! We just came to see how you were doing!” Artemis said.

“… Mmm…” He rubs his eyes and gets out of bed. “Whatever. You have my toothbrush, right?”

“Of course! I’ll take you up. Ai don’t you have Captain duties to do?”

“Ah! I need to hurry and get down!” she quickly left the room.

“Now let’s go as well. Nox is a heavy sleeper,” Artemis said.

Walking up to the top floor, Cirrus could see all the hard work that went into building this tower with designs and ideas of his former life.

“So, did the adult me help blueprint the design of the tower or what?”

“Well, for your information, this was the Ishtar Familia’s home and after a sudden show of power, they were forcibly disbanded, and we took control of it.”

“Ah. I guess Bastet Familia was weeded out… But you have nothing to do with what Ishtar did? I mean, the closes would be Midwifery?”

‘He’s sharp… There’s almost no drop in intelligence… Mmm, I wonder if it is his skills?’ Artemis thought.

“Well, our Familia works more along the lines of security.”

“So we work like the mob offering protection?”

“That’s a bit of a rough way of saying it, but it’s not off the mark. The district doesn’t pay us as we are a hybrid of an exploration and business, Familia. The adult you work with, the goddess of love, Kama, who now runs the Red-Light district and its operations, so you get a cut of the profits.”

“Mmm… Seems complicated.”

“A bit yes.”

They reached the room, and Cirrus went to brush his teeth.

“So… Do you have anything planned?”

“No…” he rinses his mouth with water and gets out of the bathroom. “But I probably need to go back to Lenoa’s place to get some clothes, these are too oh wait. (Exousía, Adorn: Lernaean).”

Nothing happened.

“… Yeah, so you eventually got better armor to try your Ceryneian armor.”

“Aw... I really liked that one. (Exousía, Adorn: Ceryneian) His magic circle appears, and the armor clothes him. “Huh? this is pretty cool. I didn’t know my armor can change. Oh, the antlers got lighter! And it’s not just strips of cloth!” his mask faded away, leaving the rest intact.

“Is there anything you wish to ask? I am sure you have plenty of questions.”

“Ah well, for one, does the city know about… um, my face?” He messes with his hair a bit, still using his bangs to hide his face.

“The city knows you are Nephele’s son. You kinda dropped that bomb on the city while facing Alfia and Zald.”

'Then kinda... played out a example showing the truth.'

“… They weren’t dead? I thought the Guild marked them as dead?”

“They lived, but shortly after some events, they passed away. Seems they both were on death’s door for a while now.”

“I… see. I would have liked to know them better. I’m sure they had nice stories about my mom!”

His smile was like sunshine to Artemis. Bright, innocent—pure.

"Yeah." Artemis smiles as well. "I'm sure they did."

“Oh, did my future self ever learn who our Dad was?”

“Um…” Artemis didn’t really know how to put it. “Nnnnnno... Sorry, but as a level 8, you are pretty much world-famous.”

“Oh… Hm." His lips pulled back a bit. "Okay, but my future self found Hera, right? I—We wanted to also ask her about my mom?”

“Uhhh… yes. But she left something to be desired, and they gave you the surface amount on her.”

“…” Cirrus made a disappointed expression.

That smile, like sunshine, quickly was blotted out by gray skies. He took a deep breath and made an expressionless face.

“Well, that fucking sucks.”

Artemis wanted—needed to change topics. She yearned to see him smile more.

“So what now?” Artemis said, sitting down. “Any plans or something you wish to do in this peaceful era?”

“Hmm… I’ll probably just walk around the city or something.”

“Do you want me to come along as well?”

Cirrus could see the look in her eyes that she wanted to come.

“Uhh—"

The door suddenly opened, and Fels entered the room.

“Cirrus!” Fels quickly walked up to him and examined him. “You have changed.” She patted his head, arms, legs, everything to see if he was alright.

“Fels.” Cirrus slowly smiles ear to ear. “You're still around!” he hugs them tightly as if they were separated for many years. “That’s great! Ah!” He let go of his hug and took a few steps back. “Do you have something future me made for you? It should be like a necklace.”

“Ah yes.” Fels touches the magic gem, and they remove their hood to show their face. “It’s not perfect, but nevertheless it’s good enough that it does not break so easily anymore.”

“I’m glad! Seems my future self did our long drawn-up plan!” Cirrus smiles like sunshine.

“How long did you plan for it?”

“Uhh… I’d say when I was 5 or something?”

“That long huh… Well, do you wish to go out?”

“Sure! Oh, um, do you come as well?” Cirrus looked at Artemis.

“No, no! you two have some family bonding! I have some things I need to do! Have fun!” she said, leaving the room.

“… I think she may have wanted to spend time with you?” said Fels.

“There is always tomorrow.”

Walking through the streets of Orario with new clothes, Fels and Cirrus spend time as a parent would their child.

“Is this the first time we walked together outside?”

“It is. I apologize for having taken some of your clothes,” Fels said in Cirrus’s clothes, looking rather well-dressed.

“It's fine. I’m probably not gonna wear it for a while anyway, so where do you wanna go?”

“How about a nice lunch?”

“You can even eat now?”

“Not exactly. I am afraid that even with your skills, taste, and touch are something I can’t experience. Also, the food just falls through me.”

“… I see… Then how about something else?”

“Hmm… I have nothing.”

“Fuck… Wait… I do have something, but did my adult self have a workshop or something?”

“He did. He has two, one at the Moonlight Tower and one that he won from Lady Hephaestus. What do you plan on doing?”

“I want to make something really quick! Nox said I still kept my status, so I wanted to try and make something.”

“Very well.”

Fels leads the way to the workshop east of the city. When they arrived, Cirrus found it rather dusty.

“Huh? Do I not use it much?”

“No, you are very busy, so you use this place as a way to store your material and stuff you created that you no longer have no room for.”

“Ah… Okay, well, I’m going to look around and make the stuff really fast!” Cirrus quickly ran off around the home.

‘He looks so much more lively than he did back then… It seemed those times really robbed you of a childhood…’ a smile cracked on their faces. ‘Then maybe this is a chance to help recapture it.’

After a while and a few sounds later, Cirrus came back with two boards with wheels.

“What are these?”

“I call them skateboards! Let’s go to the city wall and try them out!”

He hands one to Fels and they both head to the city wall in the east.

“So how does one use these?” Fels asked.

“You just put them on the ground.” He places one on the ground. “And you put the foot you would use when you slide on it.” Cirrus puts his right foot on it and kicks off skating. “You would probably need some practice.”

“Hmm… I see.” Fels said, watching Cirrus skate. Fels put their right foot on it and kicked off as well. They were wobbly at first, but they soon got used to it.

“Pretty fun, huh!”

“It is. It’s nice to have the wind go by you.”

They both skated along the city wall, getting a grasp on skating.

“Now… Do you wanna go down and see how well you can get?”

“A challenge it is, then. You go first.”

“Fine, then!!”

Cirrus kicked off with more speed and he grinded on the edges of the wall before jumping again down the inner wall.

“Heh~ I see how it is.”

Fels followed suit.

From a window of Babel, Freya could see two souls, one a youthful myriad of colors, and one old and grey playing with one another.

“What a sight. It warms the heart.” A faint yet expressive smile graces this goddess of love. “And…”

Freya looked just a bit south of them. A certain hunting goddess was watching from a distance.

“… for another.”