Danmachi: the Great Devourer

Christmas day special 1:C9: Sunlight Banquet

Word count = 1606 on 12/29/2023

Axel returned home after the long trek to the second floor. He made quite the 'killing' today as he has gathered up roughly 80k Valis. Which is alot to him, granted most of it was from the enhanced goblin species. When the guild heard he killed this goblin near the stairs to the second floor, they doubled the guards around the entrance just in case since they agree with Axel's previous thoughts of strengthened species not appearing in the first floor ever. While not told to Axel to his face, it is believed that when a strict hunt on certain species happens is when a strengthened species is born. Thus the root cause of this event would have been Axel himself but this is just one of the many theories regarding the enhanced species variants. It is not conclusive as there would have likely been hundreds of goblins like this since all adventurers have killed lots of goblins before, far more than Axel's accumulated numbers have been.

With a confused guild and a happy 'rich' Axel, he begins to make his way back home. He finished around early dinner (equivalent to 4pm) which is when a class is still going on. So he waves to his goddess and hugs the wall as he enters his home. Raikou had waved to him as well with a smile on her face which triggered the jealousy of her students who train harder to get her to smile at them just like that.

Axel tries his hand at making dinner from what is available and naturally doesnt burn anything down since he is just making simple sandwiches. He waits for a few minutes setting up a bath as he knows his goddess is finishing up classes. Once she returns, he has her go take a bath before they eat dinner together. He almost died by being smothered to death from his goddesses excitement at his manners and care for her. He had to take a few deep breaths to regain his composure.

As they finish up dinner, Raikou says to Axel about an event that will be happening in a week. "Axel-kun, did you know that the Sunlight Banquet will be happening in a week?"

"Whats the sunlight Banquet?" He asks, confused.

"The Sunlight Banquet is a city wide celebration in honor of the many heroes of the past who have assisted in essentially saving the humans of today through their actions. There is quite a handful of them: Albert, the Argonaut, The Knights of Fianna, Epimetheus, The first Crozzo and even the two gods and their familias' who perished as a result of their fight against the great beasts just a few years ago."[1]

Raikou explains and Axel widens his eyes in surprise as he asks more about the event. Yet, Raikou says he will find out anyways over the next few days as the preparations are set up.She on the other hand makes him explain how his day at the dungeon went to which he is forced to repeat the events with the Enhanced Species. He shows how much money he made and was almost suffocated again as his cheerful expression made Raikou think he was too cute.

A week goes by quickly as Axel completes his training with Takemikazuchi and his familia. He still drops by every once in a while for a followup spar. His rapid improvement causes them to also start to improve faster.

On the other hand, the festivities are very much underway as there are small parades designated for each major hero or group. Amongst them is the aforementioned Albert group, The Argonaut group which is made up of various lower level adventurers who came from outside Orario, the Knights of Fianna group which is lead by Finn Deimne, the captain of the Loki familia himself. Hidden amongst the crowd is a short young girl who is covering herself with a thin paperlike cloak. She blends into the crowd as she offers her prayer to the legend of the Pallum race..

Axel doesnt see much mention of Epimetheus but he doesnt doubt that he was truly a hero but that he was just forgotten by civilization. There is a small Crozzo group which is primarily made up by the blacksmiths of Orario as they pay homage to the ancient blacksmith hero. Next to the leader of this group which is actually the Hephaestus familia head captain is a young man with red hair. Most know him due to his strict attitude or foolishness due to admonishing his own Crozzo bloodline.

The Yuri or Yulis group which is mostly made out of beast folk with an annoyed Bete Loga of the Loki familia leading the way. He is getting covered with the various beast kids of the city but he doesnt shake them off. At most he yells at them for annoying him which makes them scamper around before returning to bug him.

The Ryuulu group is composed of elves, although only a small handful as the legend of Ryuulu is based on the fact that this elf did not care for elvish royalty and was not prejudiced against other races like the rest of elves were. She used her skills to assist the other races to escape against the monster invasions of old after the elf royalty gave up on their land which was the very reason for her defiance. The leader of this group is Riveria Ljos Alf, the Vice captain of the Loki familia. She only has a few other elves who are more her fans than supporters of Ryuulu. Though an odd addition is made in the form of a cloaked elf with a half mask covering her face. She follows the group from a distance in a hands together pose, most would assume her to be some sort of priestess but she is in fact a simply war torn elf who has experienced great heartache, Ryuu Lion.

The Garms group is composed fully of dwarves and led by Garef Landrock and executive of the Loki Familia. While most of the current heroes were just compatriots of the argonaut, they are still valued for their sacrifices in the name of all life, regardless of race.

The Olna Garof and Elmina Garof are led respectively by Tiona and Tione of the Loki Familia, Olna herself wasn't much of a combatant but she did record the adventurers of the Argonaut and all his companions. On the other hand Elmina was an outcast amazoness who was adopted as Olna's sister. She was an expert assassin who greatly assisted in the fight against the monsters and other villainous folk.

All of these groups marched around town before arriving near the tower of babel where statues representing each hero are arranged. The leaders set down the banner before each statue and then approach the final twin statue. The Zeus & Hera Familia. While the Loki familia could be considered their weaker rivals back in the day. The two families still perished on behalf of life, leaving behind seeds of hope and prosperity for the later generations. They still receive the prayer of the people for this very reason and why the loki executives are willing to bow their heads on this day as well.

Axel on the other hand is amongst the Immortal group in the crowd, observing all these groups come together, hearing about all the legends. He was personally told the legends by Raikou or Astolfo who pitches in whenever she can. Granted, Axel learns that there was at least one more 'hero' who is now honored here due to very few knowing what effect she actually had on history (Ariadne Larkios-aka Ai's past life. Nothing on the wiki about her story)

As such, he offers a prayer to the unspoken princess. Funnily enough, to his right side is a blond lady with a rapier on her waist who is looking into the ground, her gaze focused on the statue of Albert. Comparatively, on the exact other side of the dungeon plaza is a young white haired boy who recently arrived in the city and is still getting used to things, he is surprised by the celebration and is stuck in wanderlust as he stares at the Argonaut statue due to being told many hero stories by his grandpa.

All these groups remain unaware of the symbolism regarding how they were represented or how their history intertwines even after so long apart.

All the groups finally split apart and properly enjoy the festivities through various foods, entertainment stalls or drinking competitions. Axel for the first time learned that his bit of money is quite pitiful but he still enjoyed himself. Nevertheless, he steeled himself to properly adventure next time around, allowing his growth to slow down a bit so that he could make more money from his adventures. He might even try to enter the 5th floor now.

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[1] You can learn most of these names and part of their histories by looking up the Memoria Freese game's wiki. I had personally found it in the small directory at the bottom of Epimetheus' page since there was no true designated page for all these legendary figures. In fact, out of all these names, only Albert is really the most well known. The others are legends of various races or clans.

But yea as i mentioned in parenthesis, there is nothing about Ai's past life except that she was the princess and sister/half daughter of Olna (yes there was incest in history. The king married his own daughter)