"From the heavens… a god…"
That single line left Tsunayoshi momentarily blank. Then those scattered fragments in his head flipped over like pages in a wind—familiar in an odd, nagging way—until he finally grasped why. Loki… Falna… the Great War… Silence… Gluttony… gods descending from the heavens… Danmachi… So this was where he'd landed. He never would've guessed that his voluntary transmigration would bring him to this world.
"Haa~"
Steadying his breath, Tsunayoshi sorted the fragments he'd recovered and at last understood the source of that eerie familiarity. After a brief think, he spoke slowly:
"I think I get it, a little. I may actually know more than you do—about this world, I mean. But this isn't mealtime talk. Something special has come up, and we need to discuss it with Loki."
"We?" Finn asked.
"You three are the pillars of Loki Familia, so you need to know. But it's best if no one else hears any of this—otherwise we'll have trouble. And… consider this a heads-up: don't overreact to what we're about to talk about."
Still not following, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria nonetheless let Tsunayoshi pull them along to Loki's room.
Knock, knock, knock!
Footsteps approached from inside. The door opened to a bleary-eyed Loki.
"What's up? It's early."
"Loki-san, I suddenly remembered something important. We should talk in detail."
"…Come in."
Hearing that—and seeing instantly he wasn't lying—Loki's curiosity pricked up. What had the kid remembered, enough to bring Finn and the others? With that curiosity, she waved them inside.
Loki's room was larger, though the layout and furnishings weren't very different. The cabinet against the wall didn't hold books but rows of bottles in every color. Apparently, Loki liked her drink.
"So, Tsunayoshi—what did you remember?"
"Before that, Loki-san, please look at this."
Tsunayoshi opened his hand, and a book with a cover appeared on his palm. Loki accepted it, curious—then her expression shifted the instant she saw the cover.
"Oh~ That layabout's still living the high life upstairs, huh? No one down here knows her face except us. Tsunayoshi, what did you remember that you even know that pipsqueak Hestia?"
Loki's surprise was short; amusement followed.
"It's a story," Tsunayoshi said. "A story about a boy who longs to be an adventurer and step by step becomes a hero who saves the world. A newly descended, young goddess and a boy who's only just arrived in Orario and is desperately searching for a familia meet by chance. The story is called 'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'"
"Trying to pick up girls in the dungeon, huh? That's the kind of starry-eyed fool who comes to this labyrinth city," Loki sighed, more wry than annoyed.
"So the thing you remembered is that our world exists as a story in a picture-book?" Loki asked. "Or are you worried that now that the picture-book has 'added' you, its plot will never change again?"
"No. I'm worried you'll take the wrong lesson from it."
"What 'wrong lesson'? It's not like I can't accept it. Stories about gods have a way of spreading. Not just here—other worlds have similar things. Our tales get adapted all the time into different forms. This kind of thing isn't rare."
Am I really that thin-skinned in your mind? Loki was pleased he came straight to her the moment he remembered, and she could tell his concern wasn't a lie—but did he really think she couldn't handle this?
Loki crooked a finger at him. When Tsunayoshi came closer, she tugged him to sit on the bed, then casually hooked an arm around his neck.
"You think this is so unusual? Or that I'm too fragile to accept it?"
"I'm… curious, mostly. I remember that story had already gone pretty far."
"You're worried reality will follow that story beat for beat? You don't need to. Stories go where they go for drama, for a better ending. Reality rarely lines up so nicely. Sometimes it diverges completely from the very first step."
Loki began to explain.
"In your story, the love-struck boy meets that little shrimp of a goddess, and that kicks everything off. But Orario isn't that simple—or kind. Especially not for some kid wandering around hunting for a familia. From what I know of certain adventurers here, he'd have been marked the moment he started looking."
"A kid naive enough to daydream about meet-cutes is just a target for Orario's darkness. And the boy on that cover—he's the protagonist, right?"
Not a bad-looking kid. From an aesthetic standpoint, Loki figured he hit broad tastes.
"A kid that fresh would get spotted his first night by Amazonesses from the Pleasure Quarter. With his face, I doubt Ishtar would pass up the chance for a taste. And once he's dragged into the Quarter, his fate is pretty much to be bled dry."
"The boy meeting the shrimp goddess is only one possibility. Any deviation in the middle, and the rest of that story goes somewhere else entirely."
"The path you know is just one clear route—not fate this world must obey. Even gods can't grip destiny, never mind a picture-book."
"Still, what you know isn't useless. It gives you information—intel. This world won't walk the route you read, but some of those details will be very useful along any route."
(End of Chapter)
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