Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Hassle

So that whole ring of fire thing I did might have been a bluff since my control over my flames wasn't that good. Don't get me wrong I could certainly hold it in place but it took a huge amount of effort on my part as the flames wanted nothing more than to go wild and set the whole floor ablaze. Once the robbers were good and secured I had to retract the flames and put them out which was a serious struggle. The three adventurers left as soon as I did which I wasn't surprised about though I did think it was rude.-

They could have at the very least offered to help me drag these people up to the guild but whatever. I stopped at the fourth floor to eat my meal that Syr made(pulled beef with mushroom gravy and cornbread) and one of the robbers tried to be smooth and make a silent escape while I was eating, I broke his foot. It slowed us a bit with his hobbling and whimpering but I ignored it. Eventually we made it to the surface and I was stopped immediately.-

"What's going on here?" One of the guards at the dungeons entrance asked seriously.

"These three tried to rob me on the twelfth floor after I got done fighting a monster and I captured them to take to the guild." I said honestly.

"Hmmm, you don't look like you got into a fight with them though." the guard said suspicious.

"That's because I didn't fight them but rather gave them the option of surrendering quietly or dying and they chose the latter option." I said getting rather irritated at the hold up.

The guard scoffed "Like I'd believe that a newbie like you could get people like that to surrender without a fight." he said mockingly.

"Look man I frankly don't give a shit what you want to believe or not. I am going straight to the guild which is literally right fucking there so you are more than welcome to come with but move out of the gods damn way." I said having enough of this nonsense.

The guard snarled in anger and looked like he was and to try and hit me when another voice spoke up from nearby.

"Whats going on here?" the female voice asked sternly.

Looking over I saw that it was an azure haired woman with a spear in her hand.

"This guy is stopping me from taking these robbers to the guild is what." I said angrily.

"Is this true?" the woman asked the guard who looked very uncomfortable under her gaze.

"That's what he says but his story makes no sense! How could a newbie like him possibly subdue three..." the guard spoke but i cut him off.

"Five robbers, one of them got stabbed in the back by this guy here and the other tried to get me with a false surrender sneak attack and I killed him for it." I said seriously.

"That makes even less sense!" the guard said red faced.

"Whether his story makes sense or not he was taking them to the guild was he not?" the woman asked sternly and the guard floundered for a moment.

"Well um, Yes?" he said quietly.

"Then all you should have done is see that they actually reached there, not impeded him." she said firmly.

"Yes Captain." the guard said with a defeated sigh.

"Hmmm, If I am not mistake you are Black mark correct?" she asked and my facial muscles twitched at the mention of my alias.

"I don't like that name but yes that is what the gods chose to call me. I go by Alex however." I said honestly.

"I see, then it would appear you didn't do as the rumors suggest and reach the bare minimum to level up quickly. Can't say I am not curious as to how you managed it." she said calmly.

"Well First I fought and killed a variant goblin on my first delve, then got caught in an ant swarm and finally fought and killed a minotaur to get the achievement I needed to level up. After that I just needed to work on raising my stats as high as I could." I said with a grin knowing damn well how nuts that sounded.

Both the woman , guard and my prisoners looked at me in shock.

"How the hell are you still alive with luck like that?" the guard couldn't help but ask incredulously.

I shrugged "I really didn't feel like dying, such a pain in the ass you know what I mean?" I asked and they all looked at me like I had grown an new head.

"Great, another madman with a falna. Just what this city needed." the woman said sarcastically. 

"Hey! I'm not just "another" madman but THE madman, theres a distinction!" I joked with mock offense.

"Ugh, whatever just get those three to the guild already." the woman said rolling her eyes at my antics and I wasted no time dragging my prisoners to the guild.

Rose was less than pleased to hear about my latest exploits and I hurriedly left the guild after cashing out the mana stone from the infant dragon since I had no use for it as it was and couldn't empty it of mana myself. She had looked about two seconds away from reaching over the counter and beating the ever loving hell out of me.-

Honestly though, I have a three date rule before things are allowed to get physical after all. Jokes aside she really was pissed at me for being such a problematic individual and reckless to boot. It could be worse though as I could be picking fights with a bunch of familias for next to no good reason, wouldn't that be ridiculous? I might be bold and proud of it but I knew where my limits were and didn't go making issues I wasn't sure I could probably handle.-

Obviously some things were out of my hands like with the minotaur but at that point I just said fuck it and did my best and really what more can be asked of anyone? Heading home from the guild I stopped by the hostess to drop off the food container and compliment Syr on her progress as far as cooking was concerned. Then I headed to the Blue pharmacy to grab some slightly higher concentrated mana potions as my old diluted ones weren't hitting the same usefulness as before I leveled up.-

One of them used to give me about three quarters of a full charge but after I leveled up it dropped precipitously to a mere quarter. I wasn't surprised really since my blessing of black skill set my magic stat at G right off the rip and each stat point at level two was worth one and a quarter of the same one point from level one. This meant on top of what I had before I leveled up I had way more cursed energy that was also purer as well.