Void Multiverse, Higher Dimension.
While Tatsuo and the other members of the [Dimensional Chat] were exploring the Dungeon in the DanMachi Universe, the Void Empress was watching them from her throne. And just like the newly-minted Adventurers' thought, it was strange for them to encounter an Irregular Situation on their first trip into the Dungeon.
"Not just strange." The Void empress said while narrowing her eyes at the scrying spell she was watching the two parties through. "If one of them ran into a situation like that, that would be one thing. But for both of them to encounter aa similar situation… Something is clearly wrong."
Though she did not speak her suspicions aloud, based on what happened in Tatsuo's last [Mission], the Void Empress already had suspect in mind. However, unlike last time, she did not completely lose her composure. Especially since the coincidence could be just that… a coincidence.
"Before I jump to any conclusions, I need to know if this is natural." The Void Empress said as her furrowed brows eased. A moment later, a magic circle appeared near her right ear before she spoke into it. "Inform the God of Investigation to come see me."
{"Understood.} A female voice, most likely an assistant to the Empress, said from the other side of the magic circle.
Then, all there was to do was wait while continuing to watch Tatsuo and his companions as they ventured through the Dungeon.
Not long later, around the time the two teams finished their third battles after facing the Irregulars, the doors to her throne room opened. Through them, what appeared to be a boy of six years old with brown hair, blue eyes, and large, round glasses wearing a blue blazer, a white dress shirt, a red bow tie, grey shorts, and a pair of sneakers stepped inside with a slightly displeased expression on his face. {Pic}
"Why do you look so displeased?" The Void Empress asked with a small smile on her face. "Is serving this Empress such an undesirable thing, Shinichi? Or was being elevated to divinity not to your wishes? I even took in that little girlfriend of yours, Ran. And she seems to love her position as a Lesser Goddess of martial Arts."
"Of course not." The God of Investigation, Kudo Shinichi, replied while pouting. "But is it necessary to make me take this form every time I appear before you, Your Majesty?"
Hearing that, the Void Empress' smile widened ever so slightly as she uncrossed her legs and crossed them again in the opposite direction.
"Think of it as a little punishment.' The Void Empress said softly. "A punishment for deceiving the person who worried about you the most for so long."
Shinichi could only lower his head while wearing a guilty expression in response.
"But that is not why I summoned you.' the Void Empress continued while gesturing to her scrying spell. "An anomaly has appeared during the prince's latest [Mission]."
Immediately, Shinichi raised his head, the guilty expression replaced with narrowed eyes and intense focus. Meanwhile, the Void Empress explained the anomaly.
"So, I'll need you to investigate the situation in that world. Find out if this is just a series of coincidences or if foul play is at work. Once you've determined which it is, report back to me. You have two years."
"Understood, your Majesty." Shinchi replied with a nod.
"Also, do not make contact with the prince.' the Void Empress added. "As you are quite aware of the multiverse theory, you should know that he would more than likely recognize you immediately. And needless to say, neither Kudo Shinichi nor Edogawa Conan should appear in that world. However, you will be permitted to make contact with Aislynn."
"I understand." Shinichi replied. "I will complete this task."
"Oh, and one more thing.' The Void Empress said, her small smile returning to her lips. "Try not to cause any crime scenes. People do tend to end up dead when you're involved, after all."
"Those murders had nothing to do with me!" Shinichi shouted indignantly. "I mean, how could they be my fault when I was just the detective that solved the cases."
Instead of replying, the Void Empress' smile only widened. Then, after realizing that she was teasing him, Shinichi left in a huff, the doors to the throne room closing behind him on their own.
And once the doors closed, the Void Empress returned her attention to the scrying spell just int time to see Tatsuo's and Alfonzo's teams join up at the entrance to the Dungeon's Fourth Floor.
DanMachi Universe, Lower World, Dungeon, 4th Floor.
"Damn… You guys look like you ran into some shit." Alfonzo said with a slight grimace.
"Have you seen yourselves?" Tatsuo asked while gesturing to the monster blood splattered all over Alfonzo's team's clothes. "I bet Lici must be pissed. She did make most of our clothes, after all." {Pic}
"Nah." Elicia replied while waving her hand dismissively. "All the clothes we wore into the Dungeon were treated with special herbs. So, stains won't last pass the first washing."
"So, that's why you added the little tags to our clothes, huh?" James asked while reaching back and tugging up the back of his collar. "I thought it was just a stylistic choice. Turns out its so we won't show how dumb we are and wash them wrong, huh?"
"Speak for yourself." Akatsuki cut in with a scoff.
"You catch on fast, James." Elicia replied with a bright smile. A moment later, however, her expression turned downright terrifying. "Because if any of you ruined my creations because you were being stupid, I would be quite angry. And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
"She actually quoted Bruce Banner for something like this?" Violet asked in a dumbfounded tone. "That's a bit dramatic, isn't it?"
Immediately, Elicia spun around and locked a rather intense gaze onto Violet, causing her to shrink back momentarily.
"She's right, though." Alfonzo said casually, making Elicia look at him with a thoroughly betrayed expression. "We're intentionally going somewhere dangerous. Why would ruining clothes meant for battle bother you at all?"
Elicia froze when she heard that. A moment later, after thinking it through, she smiled sheepishly while shooting an apologetic glance in Violet's direction.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Elicia said with an awkward giggle. "Sorry 'bout that, Violet. I get kinda worked up when it comes to my clothes."
"*Sigh* It's fine." Violet said while shaking her head.
"By the way, who is Bruce Banner?" Momo, coming from a world without Marvel Comics, asked in a curious, intellectual tone.
"Once this [Mission] is complete, you're coming with me to visit Tatsuo-Kun." Violet said, trying to clear away the awkward atmosphere. "We can watch all the MCU movies. Then, you'll understand the reference."
"I'd like to come, too." Sakra said quietly. "Although I've heard of Marvel comics, I've never seen any of the movies or read any of the comic books."
"I'll come, too." Aletia said, her tone brooking no argument. "And the Worthless Rabbit would cry if we left her out."
Hearing the girls' conversation, a single thought ran through Tatsuo's head. 'Violet's and Sakura's worlds have Marvel, too. So, does it really have to be in mine?' But he kept it to himself. He was not dumb enough to make it seem like he did not want his hoard to stop by. Though, if the meet up had been held in a different world and he was invited, he would have been fine with that, too.
"Anyway, how did your Dungeon dive go?" Alfonzo asked. "Like I said, it really does look like you all ran nto some shit."
"Just an Irregualar." Tatsuo replied. "A Kobold that had probably been overeating and almost reached Level 2. Nothing we couldn't handle, though."
When they heard the term, Irregular, Alfonzo's team froze. Then, they looked at Tatsuo's team incredulously.
"What's wrong? Akatsuki asked with an eye brow raised. "You're not gonna tell us you ran into an Irregular, too. What, did you find a nearly Level 2 Goblin, or something?"
"Not exactly." Zelretch replied while shaking his head. "Instead of an empowered monster, we ran into a Monster Party."
"That's not normal." Sakura said softly.
"Yeah, and especially after hearing about the last [Mission] where someone was interfering from outside." James added. "Feels like something kinda fucky is going on."
"We should head back up to the surface and tell Aislynn about this as soon as possible." Elicia said, her tone and expression more serious than usual.
"I was thinking the same thing." Tatsuo said with a frown. "Not that she could really do anything to help us if someone's messing with the Dungeon to get rid of us… Or rather, get rid of me…"
"You're not gonna say something stupid like we should leave you alone, right?" James asked with a grin as he patted Tatsuo on the shoulder.
"Yeah, no." Tatsuo replied while swiping James' hand away. "I'm not some hot-blooded Shonen protagonist…"
"Your Skill says otherwise." Alfonzo said with a grin.
"I… I'm a trained assassin." Tatsuo continued while trying to completely ignoring Alfonzo's interruption. Though, no one missed the slight stutter at the beginning. "I do what it takes to survive. And although I would never sacrifice any of you for my own survival, there's no way I'm turning down help that could keep me alive."
"Still, she might see things that we missed." Violet said. "Plus, there's her power over dreams. That could help a lot."
Violet's assessment received nods from the rest of the group. And with that, they started making their way up towards the surface. Along the way, they naturally ran into monsters. However, the Goblins and Kobolds that appeared were easily dispatched. And because they did not run into any other Irregular situations, they made it back to the surface in about twenty minutes.
DanMachi Universe, Lower World, Orario.
After leaving the Dungeon, the group did not immediately head home. Instead, they headed off to aside area of the first floor of Babel Towel where there was a place where Adventurers could get somewhat cleaned up after a dive into the Dungeon.
And thanks to Sakura's [Shadow Space], after getting washed up, they did not have to put on the same dirty clothes because everyone had stuffed a change of clothes into the lilac-haired girl's shadow before they left the Dragon's Nest.
After getting cleaned up, the group dropped all their weapons into the [Shadow Space]. Then, they made their way out of Babel Tower, intending to go back home to sift through all the magic stones and monster materials that were dropped during the Dungeon dive. However, before they could even take a few steps away from the tower's entrance, they noticed that their Familia goddess was standing there, smiling at them as they stepped out into the sunlight.
Oh, and there was another, shorter, red-haired goddess standing right next to Aislynn, too. But everyone tried their best to ignore her, especially Tatsuo. Though, they did find it strange that the goddess, Loki, was not with any of the members of her Familia. {Pic}
"So, how was your first dive into the Dungeon.?" Aislynn asked with a smile.
"Eh, it was fine, I guess." James replied with a shrug. "Nothing we couldn't' handle, at least."
"We'll give you the details once we get to the Guild." Tatsuo said solemnly, his tone and expression causing both Aislynn and Loki to raise an eyebrow in interest.
"Sounds pretty serious." Loki muttered. Then, she put on an over-exaggerated expression of worry as she looked at the ladies of the [Dimensional chat] while holding her hands out towards them while her fingers moved rather suspiciously. "Did any of you get hurt? Come here and let me give you a little medical examination. We gotta make sure there won't be any scars left on those beautiful bodies of yours."
"Wow… She's worse than Naotsugu." Akatsuki said in a deadpan. "But since she's a goddess, I can't just knee her in the face like I did with him, right?"
"As long as you don't kill her, it's fine." Aislynn said while waving generously. "As for the fallout from striking a god, I'll handle it."
"Aislynn! Are you serious?" Loki asked with an expression of deep betrayal. "I was only showing concern for my dear friend's children."
"Right…" Aislynn replied flatly without even looking in Loki's direction. "Anyway, if you think it's serious enough that it needs to be reported to the guild, then let's go. After that, we'll go out for dinner. I'm sure neither Tatsuo nor Alfonzo want to cook after your first day in the Dungeon."
"That's right.' Loki said while puffing her chest proudly. "My Familia's kids are gonna be having dinner at the best tavern in the city, and I invited Aislynn and her kids to come with us."
"Oh, I thought the only reason you were here was to freeload another meal at our place." Alfonzo said with a playful grin and a raised eyebrow.
"Well, that's only if you really don't feel like cooking." Loki said shamelessly. "If you don't mind, then I'll just go to the Hostess of Fertility and grab all of them. Then, I'd just bring them over to Aislynn's place."
"*Sigh* Anyway, let's go." Aislynn said in an exasperated tone. "While reporting to the guild is important, I'm more interested in hearing what you all experienced in the Dungeon."
"Well, it definitely wasn't boring." Momo said. "Though, I couldn't imagine spending more than a day in such a bleak atmosphere."
"Don't worry about that, after the Seventeenth Floor, it stops being so gloomy." Loki replied with a smile. "In fact, you all should get some of my kids to take you down there. Then, you could stop by at my Familia headquarters to discuss your impressions."
"You never quit, do you?" Aislynn asked while slapping Loki upside the head. "Stop trying to poach my children and/or find opportunities to molest them."
"Tch! Stingy." Loki muttered while rubbing the back of her head.
With the atmosphere in place, the group made their way towards the Northwest District of Orario where the Pantheon building was located. Then, after the report was submitted, they would only have to take a quick trip to the south to reach the Hostess of Fertility.