(DHF)Chapter 2: Artemis familia (Patreon)

"I honestly have no idea, First thing I remember was waking up in that direction about four hours ago and following the sun to try and reach civilization." I said with a shrug while pointing the direction i came from originally.

"You seem awfully calm for someone lost in the woods." Rethusa said questioningly.

"No point in panicking as far as I am concerned, not like it would help to do so after all." I said honestly.

I truly meant it too as I knew that I was in a different world from Earth but nowhere in the history of ever has panicking done anyone any good on more than an accidental basis. I watched enough movies to know that panicking typically gets you killed instead and tried to use my head for this situation. Rethusa looked at one of the scantily clad dark skinned women and ordered her to follow my tracks to verify my story.

"As for you my Goddess will decide what should be done with you." the red head said coolly. 

I was confused about something and asked a question that I probably shouldn't have from the reaction it got.

"By goddess do you mean figuratively or metaphorically or something like that?" I asked and all the women froze.

"You don't know?" one of the women asked in shock, an expression they all shared.

"Something tells me I asked a stupid question, can someone explain why?" I asked with a bad feeling.

"A goddess from heaven, like all the gods and goddesses." Rethusa said and I shook my head.

"Not ringing any bells I'm afraid." I said honestly.

"What exactly do you know about the world at large?" Rethusa asked with an expression that said she had a clue what was going on.

"Hmm, well lets see there's my name. I know how to speak and write and I know how to count money. That's about it though, on second thought that's probably not good is it?" I asked with a frown.

I had this sneaky suspicion that I was missing some very important information about this world that was making me stand out badly to these women who were from here originally. 

"Amnesia, do you have any wounds on your head?" Rethusa asked seriously.

I patted my head and sure enough on the back of it there was a lump I didn't notice until I touched it.

I nodded and she sighed "You were probably traveling on the road nearby to Orario and got mugged by bandits. One of them probably hit you in the head and messed up your memory." She said and all the other women looked at me in pity.

"If you say so. Any idea what happens from here?" I asked with a shrug. 

"You are a strange man ..." Rethusa said but paused when she realized I hadn't introduced myself.

"Alexander Drake but I prefer Alex. Plus I think I'll take that as a complement since being normal is overrated." I said with a chuckle and a smirk.

"If you say so." she sent back with a smirk of her own before continuing "Anyway to answer your previous question about what comes next we will wait for our Goddess Artemis to find us before likely escorting you to Orario and then to the guild who should be able to help you further." she said seriously.

'Judging from what was said earlier literal gods and goddesses walk the land and I can only hope that this version of Artemis isn't like the one I am familiar with.' I thought with a shiver at the myths involved with the Greek goddess and men.

To explain the old Greek myths about the goddess by that name all but painted her as someone who was not on the best of terms with the male population. There were some downright disturbing myths involved with her punishing men who peeked at her bathing or something like that. Now I was not a pervert or anything like that but that didn't I wasn't nervous at the idea of meeting such a being. Not to mention this was a literal deity we are talking about here which was concerning enough by itself.-

After about thirty minutes a group of women with one in particular that caught my attention showed up. The one my attention was focused on was beautiful with strangely perfect proportions and long tied up blue hair and green eyes. She had this presence to her that made me feel in awe as well.

'That must be the goddess then , strange that other than the weird sensation she gives off she appears no different from a normal human.' I thought as Rethusa explained the situation.

The blue haired woman looked at me "Is what my captain true?" she asked seriously.

"Hmm what? Ah sorry I was lost in my thoughts can you say that again?" I asked an awkward smile.

"My captain told me of your story, is it true?" The blue haired woman asked again sternly.

"As far as I know, though for reasons that are obvious that isn't that very far at all , meh it happens." I said with a shrug since I didn't really care.

"And you truly didn't know of the gods walking the world?" the woman asked curiously.

I shook my head "Nope, real kick in the head that bit , pun very much intended." I said with a laugh at my own joke.

"Are you insane?" she asked with a funny expression as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

I shrugged "Maybe just a little but I won't tell anyone if you don't." I said with a grin.

"Whatever the case my familia will see you to the guild in Orario worry not." she said seriously while ignoring my antics.

"And there's that word again "familia". What does that even mean anyways?" I asked curiously.

As I was led out of the forest I got a rundown of the very abridged world history but could get the gist of the situation. Basically this world had something know as "the dungeon" that spawned monsters that invaded the rest of the world for some reason and the gods created heroes to fight back using their spirit partners before at some point descending from heaven themselves to give their blessings to the mortals here.-

The ones who got these blessings were know as adventurers and grew through effort, battle and feats in groups under their respective gods called familias. In my current company for example each of these woman had Artemis's blessing and as such were her familia. There were also multiple races in this world as well. As I said though this was a heavily abridged version of the world history and there was more details I would learn later.-

"Being an adventurer sounds like a fun idea. Might even have been my original plan before I wound up in that forest." I said after my brief history lesson was over.

"Well you certainly aren't faint of heart considering you tried to fight a goblin with a shed antler of all things." Ariande who was one of the amazons I learned about said with a laugh.