Everyone pauses at Aiz's straightforward question.
"Straight to the point, huh?" Yuji saw her gaze never wavering, gesturing to Finn that it was fine, seeing the Pallum about to speak up.
"Time, training… and necessity. But in the end, it doesn't matter." Yuji said to her as the others listened in, not hiding their own curiosity.
He took a seat back down and picked up the stew again, slowly eating.
"That's not enough. I need more." Ais stepped forward, getting closer as the campfire flickered, sending embers floating off.
Finn didn't make any effort to intervene, neither did the others as they themselves started gathering around the campfire, picking up more bowls and helping themselves to the food.
Yuji kept his eyes on the burning logs, sighing, "Strength isn't something you chase. It's what's left after everything else is gone."
He glanced at Ais from the corner of his eyes, 'She reminds me of Megumi back in Jujutsu High, but with a much higher drive to getting stronger'
(AN: Changing internal thoughts from here on out, whenever you see it italicized, 'like this', consider it an internal thought.)
"At least that was the type of strength I was left with. I wasn't constantly chasing the path to getting stronger. Things just happened to fall into place, whether I wanted it to or not."
The group listened on as Yuji explained to Aiz what he thought about his strength.
"At some point, I pushed to the side what I should've been doing, taking the easy way out."
The faint figure of his grandfather's back in the hospital facing away from him surfaced to the front of his mind.
"Helping people."
The group stayed silent as they took in his words, feeling the emotional weight he put behind the last 2 words.
"Helping people…" Aiz repeated his words quietly to herself.
"Like a Hero?" She added on, a very faint glimmer shown behind her eyes.
"Hah! No, never. I'm the furthest thing you could consider as a Hero." Yuji replied with a slight chuckle.
As fast as that glimmer came to her eyes, it vanished just as quickly.
"Say, what Familia are you from then? Or are you still keeping that a secret?" Tiona asked.
"Nice tact you have there, cutting board." Tione mocked her with a sneer.
"Hahh?! Did I hear a cow mooing down in the dungeons?" Tiona turned and cracked her knuckles, standing up to face her sister as she did the same.
"*Ahem*"
The two quickly paused and separated, with Tiona whistling while Tione blushed, a hand covering her mouth.
Finn shook his head, "Sorry, but Tiona did ask a question that's been on everyone's mind. Would you mind telling us?"
Yuji observed the group, seeing all of them sporting the same curious look, with nothing malicious hiding beneath their gazes.
"Well, would it be bad if I said I wasn't part of a 'Familia?'"
Do you know of the saying that a pindrip in a quiet forest could be heard from miles away?
No?
Me neither.
"WHAT?!" Tiona, Tione and Bete yelled out at once. Finn, Gareth and Riveria having looks of disbelief on her face alongside Lefiya. Aiz was now even more confused than ever.
"Wait, what about your previous Familia then? Who were you with before you left them?" Finn quickly asked, hoping the impossible contradiction that was rising in the back of his mind was wrong.
Yuji shrugged as he finished his stew and dropped the empty bowl onto the ground next to him.
"Never been part of one. Is it like a guild or a gathering of adventures like you guys?" He asked them.
Do you know of the saying that a pindrip in a quiet forest could be heard from miles away?
No?
Yea you do, I wrote it a few lines up.
The only noise that played out was the crackle of the campfire between the members of the Loki Familia.
Finn and Riveria exchanged looks with one another, as Riveria turned back to Yuji and asked him in a louder tone than usual.
"Do you know what Falna is?"
"Like, flora and fauna?" Yuji answered back, which caused the group to be left even more dumbfounded than before.
"No, Falna, or sometimes it is also called blessing, is given by the Gods and Goddesses to the members of their Familia." Finn explained in place of Riveria.
"I don't know what to tell you, I have nothing of the sort. Never joined a Familia or got this Falna thing you guys are talking about." Yuji's expression never changed or wavered in front of them. To the group's ears, what he was saying was that he managed to knock out Bete, a level 5 Adventurer in one punch without the aid of a God or Goddesses Falna.
"This can't be real." Bete tilted his head back, covering his face with both hands. If word got out he got his ass handed to him by a Falna-less dude, he would be made a laughing stock throughout Orario, and probably beyond.
"I'm guessing these are a big deal to you guys." Yuji asked with a wry look on his face, seeing Bete's reaction and the dumbfounded look on sisters faces.
Aiz meanwhile felt like her entire world shattered. She had spent years training and fighting with the aid of the Falna granted to her by Loki, using it to get stronger and stronger. Yet, Yuji was able to beat someone like Bete without the aid of a Falna?
"Sigh* Yes… You could even say they make up the foundation of what it means to be an adventurer, within and outside of Orario." Finn said as he took a seat on a crate as well.
The others started eating, throwing glances to Finn and Yuji as their Captain began giving an explanation to the latter.
"Familia are made up of adventurers and supporters headed by a God or Goddess. They are named after the God or Goddess in charge, such as in our case, Loki, who is also the head of the Loki Familia."
Riveria nodded before adding on, "Around 1000 years ago, the Gods and Goddesses started to come down to the lower world from Heaven. Some have been around since then, and some have only recently come down. The ones that do descend have gotten tired of their mundane lives in the Heavens. They are forbidden from using their powers, known as Arcanum, and have the same physical abilities as normal people, or even weaker. However, there was one exception that the Gods and Goddesses were entitled to."
"Falna?" Yuji answered her, and everyone nodded their heads as one.
Riveria continued on, "The Gods and Goddesses bestow Falna to adventurers to bring forth heroes. Those with a Falna gain a superhuman physical prowess upon being bestowed with it and can gather excelia to raise their status to grow stronger."
"Hey, pass the salt, would ya?"
"Falna's are represented by what is known as Status, which is the Falna itself set as various parameters that we can understand."
"Get it yourself, it's by your feet."
"It is made up of basic abilities, development abilities, magic, skills and the overall level of the person it is engraved upon."
"Can I have seconds?"
"They manifest themselves as a form similar to a tattoo as a mass of text with all its characteristics detailed, as well as the corresponding Familia's emblem."
"Why the hell is my water spicey?!"
"Can you be quiet?!" Riveria stood up, her eyebrow twitching as she shouted at Tione, Tiona, Gareth and Bete, who each froze and smiled sheepishly.
'What the hell, this is totally like a video game's status screen.' Yuji couldn't help but think to himself, following along with the explanation.
Finn and Riveria turned to Bete who went back to shoveling food down his throat, but stopped feeling their gazes on them.
"Tsk, just this once. Why me, of all people…" Bete complained, wiping his mouth and putting his bowl down. He stood up and turned around, taking off his jacket to display his back to Yuji.
Yuji saw a large tattoo engraved upon Bete's entire back. It took on the face of a jester or a clown, whichever worked, with a tophat and a wide toothy grin.
"Usually a Familia member's Falna is a closely guarded secret, but it is all written in Hieroglyphs, the language of the Gods, so no mortal can actually decipher and read them." Finn finished explaining as Bete clicked his tongue and put his jacket back on, now put into a bad mood having to expose his Falna to an outsider.
"That's why it is highly, HIGHLY, unusual to find someone as strong as you without a Falna." Finn said, earning a nod from Riveria.
"However, it is possible to obtain superhuman power without a Falna, but the last recorded instances of those traced back to the Ancient Times. Those with Falna, however, gain access to better magic, skills and so forth, so we ultimately excel as the definitive betters." Riveria added on and concluded.
"Alright, I understand the gist of what you told me. So according to Riveria at the end there, it's not totally impossible for someone like me to exist, right?" Yuji asked, pointing towards Riveria.
"Well, technically, yes." Finn slowly spoke out."
Yuji clapped his hand and shrugged, "Then I don't see what the problem is? I think you guys are just too used to the norm, so someone like me threw you for a loop."
'Thank God, well, Gods, that there was a convenient and ready to use excuse for being out of the norm.' Yuji mentally released a sigh of relief.
"Teach me. Please." Aiz quickly stood up again and walked over next to Yuji, staring down intensely at the man.
Yuji and Finn both sighed at the same time, something they both noticed and couldn't help but chuckle.
---------------------
Authors Note:
Holy lore dump chapter. It had to be done sadly, both for Yuji's sake and for the readers who aren't too familiar with Danmachi. I assume most readers are coming in with a bigger understanding of JJK than Danmachi, so I'm doing my best to cater to both sides, while making this fic also more accessible to readers newer to the Danmachi world. (I'm considered pretty new to it still, but I'm slowly learning and researching)