Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dardanus opened his eyes, his head hurting worse than the time he had tried the divine wine. Trying to recollect himself, he grunted and pushed himself up, holding his head with a hand.

Then a flash of memory. He jolted up and looked around...to see the crushing sight in front of his eyes.

The pitiful remains of his whole Familia, with bodies and blood stretching over meters on end around him in the middle of countless monster’s magic stones and loot items. Not far from there, Hera Familia had encountered the same fate.

As he looked around, his breathing heavy and distressed, oblivious to anything else going on around him, he started to frantically search for anyone who could still be alive.

“Achilles...? Desklia…?” he asked, searching for his closes friends first, but he could see nothing but corpses scattered on shapeless debris and gear scattered all over. Men and women of all races, the entire Zeus Familia...had just been wiped out, as well.

Just as the thought started tearing his mind and heart apart, the source of that catastrophe suddenly reared its ugly head. A loud, disgusting breathing reminded Dardanus of what just happened: he turned on his right and saw it once again.

The One-Eyed Black Dragon. The very real reason the two strongest Familias in the world had set off to slay.

The Dragon was standing there, where the adventures had just challenged it and its hordes of monster minions. Its single eye was now watching straight at the only one left standing.

Yet, even if it was standing triumphant, the beast was clearly wounded. Hit with countless types of magic during the gigantic battle that had just taken place, the king of monster, the last of the Three Great Quests, was on the verge of death.

Still, had it wanted, it could have easily done it there and then. Dardanus, with an arm broken and his legs barely holding him up, could only stare with desperation, waiting for the dragon to open his mouth or swing one of its clawed paws and finish the job as it turned its only eye toward him.

Until a spear flew across the air, surrounded by a beaming aura and hit the neck of the dragon with unfathomable strength. Several scales of the enormous reptile broke and a dark blood started to rain down as the monster writhed in pain, but it didn’t fall.

Instead, it eventually unfurled its wings and flew away, probably to find somewhere to recover from its massive injuries.

Dardanus thus turned around to find out who had thrown that javelin, and if he thought he had recognized the blow, his eyes quickly confirmed his intuition, for he saw a tall and muscular man covered in wounds and barely standing on his own, with brown, curly hair and beard and black eyes.

“Heracles!” Dardanus exclaimed with just a hint of hope.

But any good feeling was smashed immediately as the strongest member of Zeus Familia fell again on the ground.

Gathering every inch of his strength that was left, Dardanus moved to reach his friend and then knelt next to him.

“Heracles…” he said, rubbing the dying man’s shoulder.

The dying adventurer smiled to his lifelong friend and half-brother. “Dardanus...you truly...are hard to kill…”

“Don’t talk! We need to get you out of here!” the other replied urgently.

Heracles hissed in pain. “It’s useless...the Captain...everyone’s dead...and the curse of the Dragon...is about to take me...too…”

“I said stop! We can…”

But Heracles, with his last bit of strength reached and firmly gripped his fellow adventurer’s hand. “Dardanus...you have to...find...Meteria.”

“What?”

“Please...promise me…”

For the first time in his life, Dardanus saw Heracles shedding tears of pleading. Such was the state in which the strongest adventurer in history had now been reduced to: begging for a favor instead of doing anything possible.

Dardanus watched in horror as life was slowly leaving the body of his friend. However, at the last possible moment, he found his resolve.

“I promise.”

Heracles smiled and made his last breathing. “Thank...you.”

Dardanus gently brought the hand of the fallen back on the chest and joined his own hands on top of it, taking a moment to mourn his friend.

When they had set out for the last of the Three Great Quests, everybody in the two Familias knew that it could be a one-way trip, but after the remarkable success against the Leviathan and Behemoth, that thought had taken a backseat in their minds.

Now, Dardanus found himself as the last survivor of his own group. For most people, such a thought would have been crushing and debilitating. Indeed, his own heart was begging to be allowed to explode.

However, he could not allow himself to cry there and then.

The Dragon was still alive. It may have been severely wounded, to the point where it might need decades to recover, but it would return and it would continue to favor the spread of monsters all around the world, in the meantime.

Orario’s top two most powerful Familias had been wiped out, meaning that the city was vulnerable to unrest and chaos that would come with an inevitable power struggle. Most importantly, Zeus and Hera would probably get banished from Orario by their rivals.

Finally, the promise that had just been made.

But...Meteria? A non-combatant from Hera Familia, known to be affected by a disease and probably not having much time left in this mortal world. Why would Heracles ask him to look after her?

As the question kept buzzing him, Dardanus suddenly saw somebody rise from the field of the dead. A man donning a heavy black armor adorned by a red cape and using his large sword to bring himself up.

“Zald!” Dardanus called, hoping that at least this time, it wasn’t a fleeing hope. He hurried and met with possibly the last living executive of the Familia, who removed his helmet to reveal his scarred face, his gray eyes and short, dark brown hair.

“Dardanus…” the other adventurer groaned. “Glad to see you made it.”

Dardanus lowered his head. “I wouldn’t have...if not for Heracles.” he said mournfully.

“I see…” Zald replied with the same tone as he realized what just happened.

After a brief silence, unsure what they should do, Dardanus regained his composure.

“Come on. We can’t be the only one left.” he said with resolution, even though he himself wasn’t sure of those words.

Nonetheless, Zald nodded and they started scouring the pathetic field in search of anyone who was still breathing, yet most of the bodies were not even whole to being with. In the end, there was a single woman who emerged from the disaster as the two men were still searching.

“Alfia.” Dardanus said, quite surprised to see the silver-haired woman, and executive of Hera Familia.

“Dardanus.” she said with little emotion. “Figures you would survive this.” she stood up, holding a wound on her left side. She looked at him with her peculiar eyes, one green and the other gray, and asked “Is there anybody else?”

“Zald. He’s searching on the other side.” Dardanus somberly said. “But honestly...I don’t think there might be anyone else. Heracles just died in front of me.”

“Oh...so the spear was his.” she commented regretfully. “Damn it. How did we fail so much?”

“It’s not over yet.” Dardanus replied firmly. “We have injured that monster badly. It will need years to heal completely. Now our priority should be returning to Orario and prepare for what’s coming next.”

The woman nodded and then she reached for what was left of a chart and several bags. She found some potions with which the group could easily restore their strength, then they found some straggling mounts and headed back for Orario, the Dungeon City.

It took them five days to reach the city. News of the disaster had not reached it yet, but their mere arrival, which was desperately quiet, was enough for everyone to understand that something terrible had happened. But they were even more surprised to learn that Zeus was not at his residence but instead at Hera’s.

It was at that point that Dardanus decided that it was time to make the question that had been bothering him for the whole trip.

“Alfia. With his dying words...Heracles asked me to look after your sister. Do you know why would he ask for her specifically?”

Alfia for a second widened her eyes with an expression that was a mixture of surprise, anguish and anger, then sighed in resignation. “Because she is pregnant.”

Something broke inside the heads of the two male adventurers, so they needed some seconds to regain their focus.

“What?” Zald asked, his usual composure shattered. “When?!”

“Some two months ago, I think.”

“And...was it Heracles?” Dardanus asked, though he found it very strange that his closest friend would hide such a fact from him.

Alfia clicked her tongue with a hiss. “I wish...it was Cranel.”

Now jaws hit the floor, even as they stood on top of the animals.

“Cranel?! The useless coward?!” Zald asked, scandalized.

“Look, can we just...get moving?” the woman said exhausted. She brought her mount in front of the gate and got down.

Shaking their heads out of the shock, the two men followed soon and the three entered the now sorrowfully empty manor that hosted Hera Familia. The only people present were a handful of recruits and non-combatants of both Familias, who were shocked to see the three Level 7s return on their own. Their faces communicated perfectly that the time of Zeus and Hera had already ended.

Alfia asked where the gods were, and the supporter stuttered that they were in the Captain’s office.

Indeed, as they approached the door, the three could hear Hera going on a rampaging rant. The woman was about to open the door when Dardanus reached her shoulder.

“Wait, Alfia. I think it’s better if you go to Meteria. Make sure she’s fine. We’ll go ahead and take the brunt of Hera’s screams.”

Pondering for a brief second, the mage quickly came to agree with her companion’s words and let them enter the office while she rushed toward her sister’s room.

Entering, she found her twin laying on the bed and the upper body leaning against three pillows to keep her somewhat sit. Hearing the door, Meteria turned her head from the window, noticed who that was and immediately made a wide smile.

“Sister…” she said, as if she had been already resigned to the idea of never seeing her never again.

Alfia approached the bed with a tender expression.

“What, did you think I would just die, Myrtella?” she tried to joke.

Meteria, however, for how goodhearted and naive could have been, was not stupid. Her sister had returned, but the city was silent, meaning that something had gone terribly wrong.

“How...how many came back?” she asked saddened.

“Only me, Zald and Dardanus.” Alfia replied sincerely and a bit cautiously. “Everyone else...is dead.”

“And…?” Meteria tried to ask with a bit of embarrassment and fear.

Alfia softly sighed. “I found some pieces of his backpack and protective cloth. I’m sorry.”

The pregnant woman had most likely already imagined that answer. While she wasn’t shocked, she still sniffled and shed tears for the next few minutes. Alfia truly couldn’t understand how anybody but Zeus could care for somebody like Cranel, but right now she took a chair, sat next to her sister and put a hand on her shoulder to give her some degree of solace.

It went on for a few minutes before Meteria regained control and stopped crying, instead she lowered her gaze and touched her belly, which by now was starting to show the signs of a pregnancy.

“Are you all right?” Alfia asked her, seeing how pale she was. “With your condition, can you really carry that child to the end?”

Meteria made a soft smile, like she always did. “I was never able to do anything. I’m clumsy at whatever I ever tried if not outright disastrous. If giving birth to a healthy and beautiful child is to be my only real accomplishment, I will give my all to see it through.”

Alfia sighed and eventually smiled.

That moment of peace lasted a few more minutes before they heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Meteria invited gently.

Dardanus and Zald obliged, entering and closing the door behind them.

“Well, that was a nightmare.” the former said only partially as a joke. “However...Meteria, we need to talk.”

The woman quickly grasped that they had been informed about her pregnancy. She thus gave them her full attention.

“It’s...uncommon to see two adventurers with an active falna to produce an offspring.” Zald commented.

“That’s an understatement. It shouldn’t be possible at all.” Dardanus continued. “But apparently, you and...that guy, did it.”

“I know he wasn’t perfect, but...he wasn’t a bad guy, once you knew him.” Meteria said with a mournful voice.

“Look, while I was surprised to hear it, it doesn’t really matter.” the adventurer replied. “What’s important here, is that the last person we knew who was born from two active adventurers...was Heracles.”

“And we all know what he turned out to be.” Zald added.

“Isn’t it quite early to make that assumption?” Alfia asked skeptically.

“If it was just us, I’d agree.” Dardanus replied calmly. “But Zeus just assured me that that will be the case.”

“How did you get all of that while Hera was raging around?” Zald asked tiredly.

“You just have to learn how to tune out. Anyways, with our Familias gone, there is nobody left that can think of challenging the Black Dragon again. Not to mention the fact that Orario will now face a prolonged period of crisis.”

“What do you mean?” Alfia asked.

“We were the leading Familias, for a start. Now, the city will have to find a new leadership. There are foreign powers that have longed for a moment like this for years. And then there’s Evilus to think about.”

Alfia and Zald made a concerned grunt.

“Our Familias kept them in check for the last millennia, but now I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to exploit the chaos that is coming.” Dardanus continued, leaning his chin on his right hand’s knuckles. Then he lowered them and continued. “Which brings me to my other point: Meteria, I think it’s better for you to leave Orario.”

The two women made a negatively surprised expression.

“What is the meaning of this, Dardanus?” Alfia asked indignant. “Where is she supposed to go?”

“You know full well that we have hideouts all around Orario’s territory out of the walls. Zeus has offered to accompany and protect her and the child, since it won’t be long before the Familias who have long coveted our positions will banish him and Hera out of the city.”

That harsh reality left everyone speechless and the room in silence for a few seconds.

“How?” Zald then asked, unable to comprehend.

Dardanus turned around and looked sternly at him.

“How can you keep making plans like this? We have lost all our comrades. We weren’t strong enough to kill the Dragon. Dardanus...what right do we have to keep making this sort of planning? All I feel right now is...regret...and frustration. We were supposed to die on that field.”

“Are you done with the self-loathing?” Dardanus asked annoyed.

“Uh?”

“You’re right. We failed spectacularly. We have taken on a challenge when we weren’t ready and lost all of our comrades. However, it’s not just that I made a promise to my dearest friend: with our Familias gone, there is only a handful of adventurers in Orario that reach even Level 6. This city is now more vulnerable than ever. The same city we have fought so hard to preserve. We failed in our duty to protect it, but if you think that I will just lay down and leave it to its own fate, you’re dead wrong.”

Everyone in the room was stunned and enraptured by the fire that could be seen burn in Dardanus’ eyes.

“True. We have no right to be deciding for the city anymore. The challenge of saving it...the challenge of slaying the Black Dragon and conquering the Dungeon now will have to be passed onto the next generation of adventurers. Most importantly: the city is now in a predicament because we weren’t strong enough. Are you seriously suggesting we escape our responsibilities and just sit down, waiting for our deaths?!”

Zald gulped, his stoic expression completely shattered by one of amazement and prideful shame.

“For all that matters, I will give everything to help shape the next generation! Whether that means teaching them or beat the living shit out of them until they reach my level, I have no intention of dropping my failures on the shoulders of anyone else, no sir!”

Dardanus then turned toward Meteria, or more precisely, the child within her. “What kind of grown-up would I be if I leave the kids to clear up my own mess?”

Silence followed. Dardanus had delivered those words almost out of instinct, though now he felt kinda awkward.

That was until Zald started laughing, and even Alfia smiled as she shook her head.

“Now I get why the Captain wanted you to be his successor.” the armored man said. “All right, then. I guess I will spend what’s left of my days doing some penance.”

“There is no use living with regrets. Not to mention, I believe that would make me look older.” Alfia added, then she turned toward her sister. “Myrtella, I will come with you, wherever you’re going.”

“R-Really?” the twin asked surprised.

“I’ll be damned before I leave you in the hands of that perverted god. If he tries to take advantage of you while you’re weaker than ever, I’ll blast him straight back to Heaven.” the mage replied with an affection that sounded quite threatening nonetheless. Then her expression became more serious and quite saddened. “Besides...I hate to say this out loud, but with your health...who knows if you will survive the birthing?”

The men were honestly surprised to hear that: the sisters had always had a close relationship, but nobody had ever seen Alfia becoming sentimental to that point with her twin.

Meteria was also caught off-guard, but then her face seemingly started beaming of its own light. She gently grabbed one of Alfia’s hands into her own two. “Yes. I’ll be in your care, sister.”

Alfia turned her head away, but all she gained was to show her blushing cheeks to two people instead of just one. “I-It’s nothing. We are sisters.”

“Glad to hear that.” Dardanus said and decided to bring her out of her sentimental predicament. “Then go discuss the details with Zeus. Also, if you could please try to appease your Goddess…”

Alfia sighed in frustration. “Fine.”

She left the room. Zald, not having else to say, also left. Dardanus stopped to reassure the pregnant woman.

“Meteria. I want you to know that Heracles asked me to watch over you. I promise I’ll come to visit when I can.”

The woman gave him a kind smile. “Thank you, Dardanus. I’m much better knowing that this child will be well taken care of.”

“Of course. Now try to rest while you can.”

The situation in Orario went down just as Dardanus predicted: with Zeus leaving by his own will, it took only a few days before Loki and Freya forced Hera, now left without followers, out of the city.

Her terrible character certainly contributed the most to drive out what little of her Familia was left. However, since the two deities had not been sent to Heaven, the falnas on the remains of their Familias was still active, meaning that there was still a relatively large group of adventurers left without guidance, and they started to gravitate around Dardanus and Zald.

The latter had pretty much given up on any planning. It was the former who decided the next course of action.

That was: putting what was left of Zeus and Hera Familia under the Guild’s authority...by becoming followers of Ouranos and creating the City Guard, devoting what should have been the Ouranos Familia into a force of professional soldiery and police, in order to ensure law and order in the city while the Familias squabbled to fill the power vacuum.

Half-a-year after the catastrophe against the Black Dragon, the city was in upheaval. Zeus and Hera Familias were so big and powerful, that nearly half of the economy of Orario was centered around them. Now, smaller Familias of blacksmiths, healers and those that provided several services for the two top-tier found themselves unemployed.

The creation of the Guard served also to assuage this crisis, by taking in some of these Familias to work for some of their former employers, but the Guard was significantly smaller and it was the Guild that was supposed to pay for all the provisions and supplies of the Guard, meaning that there wasn’t enough space for everybody and Dardanus had been forced to choose the services of a handful of them, such as Hephaistos and Goibniu Familias to provide weapons and armors; Dian Cecht Familia for potions and healers; Hermes Familia for intel gathering. All of the others were still struggling to reshape their enterprises.

Any Familia of adventurers, while free to act as they wanted, could be used as levies to bolster the ranks of the Guard, should the Guild issue an order to do so to face an emergency.

And as for Dardanus, he had been nominated Executor, the executive force of the Guild to arrest anyone threatening the order of the city and repelling any enemy invasion, and there were lots of them:

Evilus had gained confidence and started terror attacks around the whole territory of Orario; outside, the Kingdom of Rakia and the Empire had just brokered an alliance, and there was no other target for such an agreement than Orario, coveted by the martial states for the presence of the Dungeon, which they wanted for its riches as well as to build a formidable fighting force.

Though the most peculiar of the new reforms was another one entirely: every eight days, both Dardanus and Zald started to stand in the middle of the Amphiteatron, accepting challenges or training requests from anyone who wanted to increase their Excelia.

While they announced that they would do their best not to kill anyone, they were still the only Level 7s in the city, and they had no intention of going easy on anybody, so whoever wanted to go for the challenge instead of training should be prepared to put their lives on the line. And the challengers could be a whole fighting force of a Familia.

So far, everyone who tried to duel even a single one of them had been mercilessly used to wipe the dusty ground of the arena, but both men agreed that there were some promising adventurers, and they should focus on helping them grow, such as Ottar from Freya Familia or Finn Deinme, Captain of the Loki Familia whose strategic mind Dardanus had come to admire.

Yet, no crisis could hold them back from reaching the mountains on that day. With the excuse of going out to patrol the region, the two men, followed only by a handful of trusted companions, reached the village where Zeus, Meteria and Alfia were hiding. There was a number of women of the same village walking in and out of the small hut.

Dardanus and Zald dismounted from the horses and the former stopped one of the women.

“Excuse me. We’re relatives of miss Cheira, how is she?”

“She’s in full labor. But honestly: I don’t know if she will live long after this.” she said with a resigned yet stoic tone, for that was far from a rare occurrence out in the wild regions.

“I see. Thank you.”

They entered the hut, finding Zeus waiting at the table of what was both a living and dining room and from there they reached the bedroom. Just in time to hear Meteria make her last push before a baby cry filled the air.

As the other women slowly gave way, starting to clean up, Dardanus and Zald managed to reach the side of the bed, where they found Alfia holding the baby in her arms.

“It’s a boy.” she said with a soft tone, then lowered herself to give him to the mother.

On her part, Meteria was pale to the point that one wondered how could she still move. Nonetheless, she used all her energies to take the newborn boy, with a tired smile always on her face. The three adventurers watched with a smile that was only compromised by the pain in their eyes, as they could see how barely Meteria was holding on to life.

“What’s his name?” Zald asked, trying to ease the mood.

After another panting, the mother replied: “Bell. Bell Cranel.”

“Ugh...you really want to stick that lecher’s name onto him?” Alfia asked quite annoyed.

“Yes. It sounds just right.” the mother replied as she kept gazing and smiling tenderly at the baby who just started to calm down. “But most importantly, his name is in your honor, Alfia.” she then added with a radiant expression.

“What?” Alfia asked baffled.

“Your strongest magic. Doesn’t it manifest with a bell over your head?” Meteria said with her unwavering solar tone.

The three shook their heads and smiled. That was so naive, and yet so like her.

Alfia sighed then whipped out an elixir. “Sure. Now drink this. All of it.” she said severely.

Meteria complied and gulped down the whole phial.

“This should give you...some time.” the mage said with a fatalistic voice. “At least you should last through the nursing period.”

“It’s all right.” Meteria replied, her optimism unyielding. “I’ll make sure Bell gets the first push.” she said, then she added with a whisper and a faithful smile. “I’m sorry, little one. I wish I could see you grow. But I know you will become a fine man.”

As feared, Meteria would pass away nearly a year later. Zeus thus took the task of raising Bell by himself. Dardanus, not trusting the God’s sense of morality, was the only one who managed to find some time, among seven years of war and instability, to visit the child from time to time.

Zald was reluctant to go visit the kid again, as he started to believe that they shouldn’t put all their hopes for a future hero on him. It was neither fair to the kid nor a sound strategy overall when there were adventurers in Orario that were showing concrete results already.

For one, there was a healer in Dian Cecht Familia who had managed to do what seemed impossible: heal both Zald and Alfia of their medical conditions for which it seemed there was no chance of recovery. However, in exchange for that, Alfia had also lost Genos Angelus, her strongest magical attack, for it was bound to her disease. The same spell after which Meteria had chosen the name of her son.

Loki Familia and Freya Familia were now essential pieces in the exploration of the Dungeon. The City Guard had grown a lot, being the first line of defense during this Dark Age for Orario. It now sported a thousand members with the average level at 4. Any new recruit had to undergo a brutal training before being let to survive on their own for a week inside the Dungeon. It had become a disciplined and effective fighting force. With even three members reaching Level 6.

As such, Dardanus, Zald and Alfia were preparing to step down from their commanding positions in the Guard, letting a new generation taking the reins, and with some more free time at hand, the former finally convinced his companions to come with him to visit Bell.

“I promise, guys. By the end of this afternoon, you are going to love him.” he reassured as they approached the village.

“Whatever.” Zald replied with a neutral tone. “I’m here because I feel I owed to visit him at least once, for Meteria.”

“Sure, sure.” Dardanus replied with a calmly confident smile.

It was Alfia who seemed to be the most conflicted.

“Something wrong, Alf?” Dardanus asked.

“I just...I don’t feel like I have any right to be here. I wasn’t there for Meteria and Bell when she died, and I have refrained from coming here ever since he was born.” she said with regret and a hint of shame. “What if he hates me?”

“Just you wait.” the adventurer reassured.

Among all this, Dardanus had just risen to Level 8 after the recent battle of Orario, which saw the adventurers and the City Guard repeal the overwhelming combined force of Rakia, the Empire and Evilus, thanks in no small part to his leadership that prompted all the other Familias to give their all and rise to the challenge.

Perhaps that was the reason why he was so optimistic that day, but he also spoke knowingly of Bell’s personality.

They approached the small hut of Zeus (or, as far as Bell knew, ‘Grandpa Ercheos’) and the boy, who just so happened to be working their small vegetable garden.

Bell rose his head and saw the three adventurers. At first he was curious, but then he saw Dardanus and his face beamed with happiness.

“Uncle Dardanus!” he said happily, running toward him.

Dardanus chuckled and extended his arms. The garden was slightly higher than the road, so Bell used the difference in altitude to jump and reach the limbs that quickly closed him into a hug.

“How you doing, champ?” Dardanus asked affectionately.

“Great! Hey, you know I just finished the book you gave me?”

“Seriously? That was quite difficult to read. I hoped it kept you busy for another year.” the adult joked.

Bell made an amused and innocent laughter. Dardanus looked at him with a tender smile.

It seemed quite incredible to go from the devastated city, the death, destruction and misery that had affected and was still partially affecting Orario, and then reach that village, where all seemed peaceful, and where that boy was growing with a big smile on his face.

Dardanus gazed behind him and saw his companions look with an apparent calm at the scene. He thus renewed his smile and turned his body, putting Bell down but keeping a hand on his shoulder.

“Bell, I want to present you my two friends. The ones I told you about in my stories.”

Bell’s attention first fell on Zald, for his eyes sparked in seeing a man with a full set of armor and a sword as tall as him on his back.

“Woah...so this is Sir Zald. Nice to meet you! You’re so cool!” the kid spouted out without thinking and just jumping from the excitement.

Not even five seconds later, Zald gave him a warm smile. “Good to see you, young Bell.”

“Is it true that you fought monsters? How many times have you seen the Dungeon? And…”

While Bell seemed ready to make and endless stream of curious questions, his eyes fell on the beautiful and graceful lady of the group, who didn’t seem able to wipe her saddened expression away, even if her eyes remained closed as always.

There was no way Bell had any memory of his mother, and yet a part of him immediately felt like that.

“M...Mom?” he whispered, amazed and blushing a little.

Somehow, that innocent and legitimate question broke something inside Alfia. She knelt on the ground and said with a hint of regret: “Hi, Bell. I am...your mother’s sister…”

Dardanus silently rolled his eyes. It seemed like Alfia was still sensitive about being called anything that made her feel old.

On the other end, that revelation had left Bell frozen, which rendered the scene silent for a couple seconds.

Than Bell’s eyes glinted again and, with another blinding smile and sparkling eyes, he asked with a lovable excitement: “You’re my auntie?!”

For a split second, Zald and Dardanus truly feared for everybody’s life, their faces paling from the terror of what they imagined would be her reaction.

That turned out to be Alfia breaking the dam. She opened her eyes, letting out a flow of tears and making an expression of deep regret, then she managed to bring out a smile.

“Yes...I’m your auntie.” and she extended her hands to invite his own.

“Huh?!” the other two adults huffed out of disbelief.

Bell grabbed his newfound relative’s hands and Alfia gently squeezed them.

“How cool! I always wanted an auntie!” he said with a disarming candidness.

Alfia broke down even more and started sobbing. She thus grabbed Bell and hugged him with a gentle firmness.

“I’m sorry, Bell…I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier...”

Again, Dardanus and Zald were at a loss for a words. Seeing that kid tear down Alfia’s armor of ice with just three or four words was somewhat appalling...and extremely touching.

So much that they couldn’t hold back a chuckle and a smile.

“All right, old man…you got us.” Zald admitted.

“Ahahah! Of course I did. I always know who I’m dealing with. And this kid...I can only hope that he never loses this purity.”

Seven more years passed. Ever since that first meeting, not a month went by without Alfia going to visit the boy for days on end, even if that meant dealing with Zeus’ unwanted attentions. Sometimes, Dardanus or Zald would join the visit and give the boy some basic notions on the life of an adventurer. Once the boy reached 14, after insisting a lot, he convinced them to give him some basic lessons on how to fight with knives.

Indeed, the adventurers didn’t take long to realize that the boy longed to become an adventurer. The fact that he kept reading the tales of ancient heroes time and time again, to the point that he had become a sage on the matter, couldn’t have been a clearer sign.

“Alfia, you know we can’t hold him back.” Dardanus said as they discussed that matter in his office at the Guild. For even if he had left the direct command of the Guard to the new elite of Ouranos’ followers, he had not been allowed to step down from being the Executor.

“If he doesn’t decide to run from home, I wouldn’t be surprised if the old man decides to drop him here all of a sudden.” Zald added.

Alfia was nervously walking around. Out of all three, she was the only one opposed to the idea of Bell becoming an adventurer and risk his life. She huffed as if trembling at the prospect.

Dardanus made a silent sigh. “Fels, you wanna help us on this matter?”

From the shadowy corner of the office came out a black-cloaked figure with metallic gloves. Ouranos’ first ever follower and effective right hand for the tasks that required secrecy.

“Lord Ouranos already said that he has no qualms to invite him into the Familia.” the strange echoing voice of the ghost said. “If there’s even a chance that this boy can become akin to Heracles, then we can’t just overlook it.”

“He’s a still just a kid…” she muttered quite angrily.

“Ais Wallenstein became an adventurer when she was an infant.” Zald calmly replied. “And so did many others who today stand at the top of Orario’s strongest. You know better than us just how strongly that kid’s desire for adventure burns.”

Alfia was still hesitant.

Dardanus thus sighed and delivered logic: “Look, the monsters are becoming ever more present outside of Orario. Do I need to remind you the invasion that the Empire barely repelled last year?”

Alfia grunted.

“If you really wish to protect him, then Orario is definitely the best place for him to live and grow.”

“Fine…” she finally conceded. “I’ll go and bring him here.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Dardanus replied, while Fel quickly disappeared.

A soldier of the Guard opened and spoke with a formal tone. “Sir, there’s a man from a mountain village...he seems to know you quite well.”

With doubt and curiosity, Dardanus simply replied “Let him in.”

He wasn’t the old man he imagined, but one he knew nonetheless.

“Village Chief...can I help you?” the Executor asked.

The old man was holding his cap humbly in his hands and spoke with a mortified tone. “My apologies, Lord Dardanus. It’s just...I figured you’d want to hear this.”

Now Dardanus and the others started to feel anxious. “Speak freely.” the man managed to reply gently.

“Well...uh...last week...there was an accident and Ercheos disappeared…”

The adventurers froze in place.

“What?!” Zald asked.

“What about Bell?!” Alfia immediately asked in a panic.

“He...he left that night...he was coming to Orario and...we haven’t heard since.”

“…”

“EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH??!!!!!!”

Chapter Text

Bell calmly waited for the right moment. Just like his uncles had taught him, he watched steadily as the Dungeon Lizard tried to get the jump on him, then slammed his knife into the monster’s head as it flew down on him from the roof.

With the blade planted into its head, the monster barely hissed one last time before turning to ash and dropping its magic stone.

Bell looted it and put it inside his pouch.

“There is still room for a few more.” he thought. It was at that point that he noticed he had reached the access to the fifth floor. It was quite ambitious for his first day, but he decided to spend another hour at most before starting to go back to the surface.

He looked around as he descended, taking in the somewhat beautiful and sinister scenery of the Dungeon. He had arrived in the city just five days before. After being rejected by every small Familia he had tried to join because he looked too skinny, he had considered just giving up and go to his uncles. That was when he had met one single Goddess who just so happened to be looking for her first follower.

Now, he was inside the Dungeon for his very first time, gathering some loot to sell since the financial profile of his new Familia was, to put it mildly, destitute.

He felt kinda bad that he had already spent almost a week in the city without going to meet those three, but he planned to visit them after this first dive into the Dungeon, in order to show them that he could do things on his own and that they needed not to worry about him. After all, if there was one teaching from his dear departed grandfather that Bell treasured, was to never let others decide for him.

He would write his own heroic tale, and for that, starting from the ground-up was the best way to ensure his independence.

As he moved into the floor, Bell noticed something strange.

“Why is it so quiet?”

Not a monster in sight. They were not even spawning from the walls, even if he had already moved in for a hundred meders. Something felt off.

Then he started feeling a rumble. Some very heavy steps were coming toward him. But that wasn’t a walk: it was running.

Bell simply figured it was one of the larger monsters of the floor and prepared to draw his dagger.

He simply could not imagine that a Minotaur would emerge from the darkness in front of him, launching a roar that paralyzed him from the shock.

“A Minotaur?! Here?! Why?!”

The thoughts rushed into his mind. But as Dardanus had taught him, he immediately got his fear in check and started reasoning very quickly.

“Wait...why was it running? That monster should be several floors beneath. Is it trying to escape someone? If a high level adventurer is behind it, then they are probably close, too.”

“If I leave now, it might hurt other people behind me, therefore...I have to keep it down here, somehow!”

As he made that resolution, he put away his hand: his knife would do him no good.

‘When you have no options that would let you win, retreating is a valid option.’ he suddenly remembered his aunt’s words.

Hoping that the hunters of that Minotaur would come quickly, Bell stood up and waved his arms frantically, defying his urging instinct to just run away.

“Hey, over here!” he yelled at the monster, mostly to purge the fear that was making him shake.

The beast clearly turned its head toward him, roared again and changed the course of its charge.

Bell immediately started running on his left, forcing the monster to deviate during the charge and thus lose a bit of precision. Evading it by a hair’s breadth, Bell felt his spine shiver, but at least he had done it: the Minotaur was now focused exclusively on him, and it was facing the same direction it had come from.

Bell panted, his breathing had become heavy, but he managed to keep it under control. He looked around, but didn’t see any other solution than try to lure the monster to ram itself into the walls to buy some time.

He waited. The Minotaur took only a handful of seconds to turn around, roar again and prepare another charge. Before Bell registered it, the beast was running again.

Kicking off the ground, Bell jumped laterally at the last second, so that the monster wouldn’t have the time to react and slammed into the wall.

Except that it didn’t get stuck like Bell had imagined. It immediately turned around, and in a split second he was back next to the human, who was still getting up from his dive. Bell looked up, freezing in the grim realization that he would never be able to dodge the ax about to come down on him.

Was that really how it all ended? An anomaly in the Dungeon on his first day? Thinking about who he was leaving behind, he wanted to cry as he barred his eyes.

But the hit didn’t come. Instead, the Minotaur stopped. His waist suddenly started to deform and then the beast broke apart.

The cause was a sword that hit it from behind. A sword held by a girl with stunning golden eyes and long hair of the same color. Enraptured by that image and still paralyzed by the fear of death, Bell simply stood there even when a whole liter of blood from the Minotaur splat all over his face and upper body.

His brain was still trying to process everything that had just happened. He just couldn’t do anything right there. The girl saw him and leaned forward, extending a hand.

“Are you all right?” she asked with a monotone voice, even if her body language expressed sincerity.

However, being spoken to by such a beautiful and incredible girl, combined with the monumental scare that had not even started to subside was simply too much. Bell just let out a pathetic yell and ran away with all the strength in his legs.

Before he noticed, he was back to the entrance of Babel, still covered in the blood and panting tiredly. Then, as the preoccupation for his life faded away, another realization started to make its way into his heart.

As he thought about the appearance of that girl, he realized whom he had just met. The girl known as the ‘Sword Princess’. His uncles had mentioned her a few times in their tales.

All of a sudden, his eyes started sparkling.

“She was awesome!”

While he had been captured by her beauty, at the moment what he really admired was how easily she had cut down the Minotaur with that speed and precision. He found himself longing for that image. Was there any way for him to become as strong as her?

He needed to find out soon, so he rushed back to the Guild. As he entered the building, he spotted his advisor.

“Miss Eina!!!??” he said loudly with much energy in his voice.

The half-elf young woman raised her head.

“Ah, Bell, we need tooohhwaaaaahhhh…????!!!!!” her initial, cordial tone quickly turned into a scream of terror.

“Can I see Aiz Wallenstein’s profile, please?!” he asked with determination

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU???!!!” she yelled out of concern.

“Ah, well...you see…” Bell said with an innocent smile.

He just started explaining what just happened when the usually noisy grand hall of the Guild fell silent as some heavy steps from the upper floor, which oversaw the hall like a balcony, resonated all around. It was the steps of some heavy armor, and apparently, from somebody whom everyone wanted to see.

Eina paled and lowered her head. Bell, wondering why, raised his head too.

Thus, he saw a very familiar face appearing at the balcony. A face staring at him with a neutral, yet terrifying gaze.

Everyone else in the room remained in a religious silence, wondering what could make that man so angry.

Bell also paled and made a silly, desperate smile.

“H-h-hi, uncle…” he stuttered, raising a hand in a half-hearted attempt to sound jovial.

Dardanus stood there for a couple seconds before calmly saying: “Miss Tulle, bring him to my office, if you please.” and walked back.

“Y-yes, sir.” Eina replied. Then she went to open one of the accesses to the counter. “Come on, Bell.”

With a mixture of emotions, Bell sighed and followed without question. He was thus brought to the Executor’s office, where Eina had to leave him to his fate. He stepped inside. The room had a large desk on the opposite side, a whole library on one wall and a set of expensive weapons on the other.

Dardanus was standing in front of the window, not even looking at him.

“Go wash yourself.” he said in a calmer tone than before, pointing at the restroom. “I’ll leave the rest to your aunt.”

Bell groaned and complied.

“FIRST I HEAR YOU LEFT THE VILLAGE WITHOUT WARNING! THEN THAT YOU CAME TO ORARIO BY YOURSELF! THEN THAT YOU JUST JUMPED TO THE FIFTH FLOOR ON YOUR FIRST DAY!”

Right then, the nickname ‘Silence’ seemed an oxymoron when applied to Alfia. As Bell sat on a chair, his head lowered in shame and his arms rigid on his knees, the woman was bellowing out with a furious voice. Dardanus and Zald were waiting at a safe distance.

“AND IF THAT ISN’T ENOUGH, I WAS TOLD BY SEVERAL PEOPLE THAT YOU HAPPILY RAN OUT OF THE DUNGEON COVERED IN BLOOD!! IS THIS ALL A JOKE TO YOU?! DID WE DO SOMETHING FOR YOU TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS?!”

“N-no, auntie!” Bell replied as he blushed and seemed on the verge of crying.

“DAMN RIGHT WE DIDN’T!! SO I WANT TO KNOW WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!!…” her voice started to break down. She took a breather and sighed. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

Surprised, Bell raised his eyes. Alfia’s face had turned from an enraged one, to one of a desperate cry. Her eyes watery and her teeth visibly tightened accordingly.

She then fell on her knees and promptly hugged him. “What were you thinking…?” she asked as she started sobbing.

Moved by that maternal gesture, Bell felt deeply guilty. He returned the embrace and gently apologized.

Finally, Alfia broke the hug, but moved her hands on Bell’s face. With her face still streaked by tears, Bell’s aunt smiled tenderly at him. He returned the smile, showing that candid face that she just couldn’t resist and pecked him on the forehead before standing back up.

With the aunt’s rage abated, the two men also gave a warm smile.

“You are truly something, kid. Just this morning, we were discussing whether to bring you here and offer you a place in our Familia.” Zald said.

“R-Really?” Bell asked, blushing.

“But then we heard that you had already done all of that. And...did you really reach the fifth floor?” the black-armored man continued.

“I mean...I wasn’t planning on exploring it. I just wanted to see if I could find some valuable item to sell. And it was only thanks to all your teachings.”

“For your first day, it’s still an absurd achievement, considering you were on your own.” Dardanus commented. “But what I want to hear is...which Familia you joined?”

“Ehm...I didn’t join one. I created it.”

“Eh?!” the three adults asked in unison.

“I made a pact with my Goddess, Hestia.”

“...who?” Alfia asked, suspicious that she had never heard that.

That tone was like a knife in Bell’s heart. “Ehm...yes, I realized she’s not very famous. But that’s why she was perfect for me to start.”

“Start your journey?” Dardanus asked with a satisfied smile that seemed to guess the answer.

Bell renewed his smile with an addition of determination. “I want to become a hero. I don’t want people to think that I used you to have a head-start.”

The three adventurers gave an approving nod.

“But seriously…” Alfia said with grave eyes and pouting. “You could have at least come to say hi once you received the falna. It’s not like we would’ve stopped you.”

“I’m sorry, auntie. I wanted to first prove that I could do it, so you wouldn’t worry about me...but so much for that.” Bell replied innocently, then rubbed his neck and added: “I would’ve been killed by that Minotaur if…”

“A...Minotaur?” Alfia asked, suddenly going pale.

“Weren’t you on the fifth floor?” Zald asked, slightly alarmed.

“Ehm...yes. It was strange. But I figured somebody was chasing it, so I tried to distract it.”

Alfia’s eyes rolled and she started fainting. Zald promptly knelt down and held her up.

“And how did you get out of that?” Dardanus asked calmly.

“I was saved...by Aiz Wallenstein.” the boy replied. “She was...incredible. With a single strike she cut it down.” he added with an admiring tone.

While Alfia regained her footing, Dardanus commented: “So the Loki Familia was on its way back. Good to know.”

The woman sighed. “You should go talk with them. In the meantime...Bell, bring me to your Goddess.”

“Uh…?”

“I want to see the conditions you live in. If I don’t deem them appropriate, you’re coming home with me.”

“What…? Auntie…”

“Right now, Mister!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am.”

As they walked through the city streets, Dardanus and Zald talked for a brief moment.

“What do you think?” Zald asked.

“About Bell?”

“Yes. No matter how you look at it. Reaching the fifth floor on his first day is just..abnormal. Heracles reached the third by himself in his first two days, and we thought that was shocking.”

They spoke with a hushed voice, for they didn’t even want the troops following them to hear, for now.

“Yes. It looks like Heracles and Zeus’ intuition was right. Bell might actually be our best bet.”

“If he gets himself killed because of his recklessness, though...and that doesn’t explain how he just so casually made his way through the floors.”

“We’ll have to hope that Alfia can get some information from Goddess Hestia. And push some common sense into the kid’s skull. For now, let’s hear what Loki Familia found down there.”

They arrived in front of Twilight Manor. Loki Familia’s residence. A large palace shaped like a castle, though the design was aimed at inspiring comfort and harmony rather than practicality against a siege.

Dardanus turned and spoke to the officer leading the detachment of troops behind him.

“Captain Lygas, have the troops wait outside.” he ordered to an Elf with jade eyes and silky black hair that reached his shoulders. The current Captain of Ouranos Familia and, therefore, the acting commander of the City Guard.

“Company! Standby!” he ordered loudly and firmly.

The troops, all clad in shiny, silver-colored armor, formed up on two lines that went to stand firmly on the frontal side of the manor’s perimeter, planting down their rectangular shields and holding their spears propped up against the floor. Meanwhile Dardanus, Zald and Lygas Barzi were welcomed by the commander of the second string of Loki Familia’s adventurers: Raul Nord.

“Welcome to Twilight Manor, Executor.” he said appropriately, even if the nervousness in his tone was evident. “The Captain will be soon ready to receive you. If you would please follow me.”

“Lead the way.” Dardanus invited.

The three leaders of Ouranos Familia were escorted inside the Manor and the richly decorated hallways that showed the richness and power of Loki’s group. After walking up several stairs, they reached the fourth and highest floor, where the office of the Captain, Finn Deinme, was located. Raul opened the door for them and then closed it when they entered.

Inside, for the moment, there were only Loki herself and the two most senior members of the Familia aside from Deinme: the dwarf Gareth and Riveria Ljos Alf.

Seeing her, Lygas promptly fell on his knee and brought his right hand across his chest to touch his left shoulder with the tip of his fingers.

“Lady Riveria. I hope you will forgive this humble elf for daring to stand in your presence.” he said firmly.

As the daughter of the current king of the High Elves, and a mage second only to Alfia in the whole city, Riveria had a tendency of being treated like that by most elves in Orario.

The emerald-haired woman smiled cordially and replied: “Please, Captain. As things stand, you are of much higher authority than me, in this city.”

“I would never dare to overlook our customs, even in foreign land.” Lygas calmly replied as he stood back up.

“Don’t spoil her too much.” Gareth quipped. “It’s going to get to her head.”

“I don’t expect a barbarian dwarf to understand etiquette.” Riveria replied with a very false frown.

“I’m glad to see you all so carefree.” Dardanus then replied. “I suppose the expedition went well?”

In response, the door opened again, this time letting the pallum inside. “Overall, yes. It’s good to see you again, Lord Dardanus.” Finn greeted politely and with a smile.

He went to sit at his seat. Dardanus and Zald took the two chairs on the other side of the desk while Lygas waited at attention behind them.

“Before we begin…” Dardanus started with a quite grave tone, despite the atmosphere, and the Loki Executives knew immediately what that was about. “I heard that you allowed a pack of Minotaurs to escape and rampage on the Upper Floors.”

The trio grunted softly, feeling guilty as charged. “That…would be correct.” Finn said.

The Executor sighed softly. “Look, since you managed to avoid casualties among the other adventurers, and since you didn’t do that on purpose, I’m willing to let it slide, this time. However, Finn, I hope this will not happen again.”

“You have every right to be angry at us, Dardanus. I can only thank you for your generosity and promise that I will never allow something like this to ever occur another time.”

“Good enough for me. Now, I received your messenger before you emerged from the Dungeon, but I figured I would hear the details from you.” the Executor began. “It is my understanding that you found a new species of monster?”

“Indeed. I never saw one like that. They seemed like giant caterpillars and they both secreted and fired an acid strong enough to melt even adamantite weapons.” Finn reported carefully.

Dardanus and Zald were caught off-guard.

“Should I presume you have never met them, either?” Finn asked, probably worryingly disappointed.

“Absolutely not.” Zald replied.

“I can’t recall anything like that...and we went deep down, back in the day. Anything else we should know?” Dardanus continued.

“They moved in packs, and they seemed unusually...coordinated.” Finn replied. “They even launched an attack on our camp during the return.”

“They even melted Cadmus.” Gareth added to the report. “And we saw them attacking and eating other monsters.”

As more details came up, Dardanus felt a chill up his spine.

“That can’t be a natural breed.” Zald said, externalizing the Executor’s doubts. “Monsters attacking other monsters are isolated specimens, not a whole species.”

“True, but can we really reach that conclusion based solely on that?” Riveria asked.

Dardanus slowly stroked his curled beard and grunted softly. “I know we lack any definitive proof, but creating en masse a monster that eats other monsters is just...unnatural, for the Dungeon.”

It might have sounded cryptic, but being former Zeus Familia, nobody could question the almost primordial knowledge that Dardanus and Zald could sport regarding the nature of the underground labyrinth. And based on their own experience, the leaders of Loki Familia found themselves in agreement with that assessment.

The Executor stood up and slowly paced a little, mumbling in thought. Everyone waited for him to reach his conclusions. He then turned around and spoke calmly, but stressing a bit of urgency.

“Lygas, do you remember last week’s cleanup in the 8^th District?”

“Yes, sir. On that occasion, we found a contraband of orichalcum.” the Captain replied, thus explaining it to the Lokis, who were still deep into the Dungeon when this happened.

“Oricalchum contraband?”” Loki asked, baffled. “Where did they get it?”

“Unknown.” Lygas explained. “However, the worthiest detail to notice is that every single one of the smugglers killed themselves on the spot rather than letting themselves be captured. There were 13 of them, and all of them preferred death. It is clear that they were not ordinary smugglers.”

“Worst thing is: we didn’t find a single clue as to who they were selling or providing that orichalcum.” Dardanus added. “But those guys were clearly acting for some kind of cause, or they wouldn’t be so eager to lay down their lives. Now you come and tell me that there is possibly a new artificial breed of monsters crawling in the Lower Floors.”

“We also have an international crisis at hand.” Zald added stoically.

Dardanus sighed. “Don’t remind me.”

“What happened?” Finn asked.

“Three days ago, the Kingdoms of Galvan, Thraxia and Knida invaded the territory of Orario’s ally, the Kingdom of Nineveh.” the Executor reported. “As you certainly know, Nineveh is rich in metals and other minerals, and Orario buys most of their exportation quotas.”

“Is it that bad? Nineveh possesses quite a strong army.” Riveria asked.

“It seems the coalition has at least a level 4 warrior each at the helm, while Nineveh only has the Captain of Assur Familia to face them. If they accept a decisive battle, he would most likely be defeated. The coalition knows this and is marching straight to the capital while keeping their armies very close.”

“Does Orario plan to send any help?” Gareth asked.

“Indeed. Sir Zald will depart tomorrow, as a matter of fact.” Lygas asked.

Loki and her children were stunned. “Well, color me surprised.” the goddess said. “The Guild is actually okay with sending one of the Three Demons outside of Orario.”

“We’re still acting in accordance with God Ouranos, and as my partner pointed out, Nineveh provides many metals that feed the blacksmith Familias of Orario. Losing it would be a disaster.” Zald explained calmly.

“That’s true.” Finn conceded. “Then I wish you good luck, Sir Zald. But back on our first topic, Sir Dardanus: how do you wish us to move?”

“You just came back from an expedition, Captain. For now, you and your people take a well-deserved rest. The Guard will continue investigating in the meantime.” the Executor decided. “But as soon as you recover, we will organize a joint expedition to the Deep Floors. We must find out what’s happening down there.”

“Consider us at your complete disposal.” Finn declared.

“Thank you, Captain. Now, I don’t want to waste your free time anymore. I’ll get in touch in the next few weeks. Enjoy your time for a while and welcome back.”

“We will, Sir Dardanus. Though, can you satisfy one curiosity of mine?”

“Ask away.”

“We heard a lot of people at the Guild saying that you called a young adventurer covered in blood into your office. We were...kinda wondering who that might be.” Finn asked with what sounded like a simple wish to understand a tragicomic episode, but Dardanus knew full well that Finn was too smart to make a trivial question to the Executor.

The two humans looked each other in the face. Zald slightly shrugged, and they quickly remembered that there was a Goddess in the room, which made it useless to lie.

Dardanus eventually decided that there was no harm, though being reminded of him making a scene in front of such a public made him rub his neck. “Right, I heard he was saved by Aiz.”

“Oh…? From one of the escaped Minotaurs?” Gareth asked.

“Indeed.”

“You know him?” Riveria asked, herself a little surprised.

“Yes. His name is Bell Cranel. He’s Alfia’s nephew and...well, the three of us have long been his guardians.” Dardanus said with a tone that showed his fondness.

However, Loki extended a hand and asked with a certain urgency “Wait, wait, wait!…Alfia has a nephew??”

“Yes. You could say he’s one of her reasons to live.” Zald added innocently. “We were only upset because he showed up in Orario without warning.”

Only at that moment they noticed that the three Loki executives had started to slightly sweat.

“Is that Lady Alfia?”

“Who is that kid with her?”

“Don’t you think they look quite...alike?”

“No way...are you saying…?”

As Alfia and Bell passed through one of the main streets, all the gazes started to turn toward them. Mostly because everybody wondered why the strict and icy woman of the Three Demons of Orario was walking around with a young boy. And not in front of him, as if she was a teacher, but right by his side as if she was protecting him.

“Aren’t we drawing too much attention?” Bell asked timidly.

“Let them speculate all they want. I don’t care if everyone knows that you are my family.” Alfia replied calmly, her eyes closed like most of the time.

“It still looks like I’m being favored. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Bell, you are a very honest and hard-working boy.” she said affectionately, then her tone turned more like that of a parent giving a warning. “But those qualities in Orario can make you a target. Remember: in this city, at least half of the people will lie to you, the other half will hide something. And seeing that you are actively seeking trouble in the Dungeon, at least allow me to make the surface a place where you can relax.”

Then she smiled and gently rubbed his hair as they kept walking. “Just let me be a good auntie.”

Bell timidly smiled and conceded. “Fine.”

Though, before they left the main road, Bell did notice that some gazes toward him were not of surprise or curiosity: they were outright suspicious or jealous of his closeness with such a prominent figure.

Perhaps it was inevitable: he was born as the nephew of one of Orario’s greatest adventurers, that fact he simply couldn’t change. Nonetheless, he would go his own way, and if his aunt wanted to just cover his back, he had no real reason to protest.

Finally, they reached the current residence of Hestia Familia...or it might have been more appropriate to call it a shelter, because it was inside an abandoned chapel.

“Here we are. This is where me and my Goddess live, for now.” Bell said, but as he turned his eyes toward Alfia, he noticed that she was frozen in place. Even if her eyes were still closed, her mouth was slightly open in surprise.

“This place…” she muttered before taking a few steps forward.

They entered from the main door of the chapel.

“Do you know this place, auntie?”

Alfia looked around a bit, touching the old and slightly rotten benches. Then sighed with a nostalgic tone. “Yes. Your mother was very fond of this place.” she said with a smile.

The news caught Bell off-guard. “What…?”

“It’s true. Years ago, she was the one who took care of this place. Even with the Gods walking among us, she used to bring me here whenever she felt I needed some peace and quiet. We would sit somewhere and talk.”

Bell looked around with a renewed interest. Imagining his mother and his aunt inside a cleaner and still functional chapel brought a warm feeling to his chest. Of course, along the years he had asked Alfia many things about his parents, mostly out of curiosity. Because between his grandfather and the frequent visits from his aunt and surrogate uncles, Bell never felt alone while growing up.

“I guess it’s no wonder that you were brought here.” Alfia quipped.

Bell chuckled, then moved toward the access to the underground level. “Come on, I don’t want to make my Goddess wait too long.”

They walked down the stairs and reached a threshold, which then brought inside the small crypt of the chapel. Alfia remembered that being empty most of the time, but now it had been turned into a living room with even a large bed.

“I’m home, my Goddess.” Bell said happily.

Inside there was a Goddess shorter than average, with black hair gathered in twin pigtails and eyes blues as sapphires, a color that reminded Alfia of his sister. However, the mage was a bit upset about her extremely short and tight white dress which barely covered more skin than a swimsuit.

“Welcome home, Bell-!!! The Demon of Silence?!” she started merrily and then scared.

It might have been a concern in seeing the kind of environment Bell had to live in, or because the voice of the Goddess seemed to indicate too much of an attachment to her nephew, or perhaps a mixture of both factors that immediately made Alfia Mark Hestia negatively. Still, she decided to play cool and made a formal bow.

“Greetings, Goddess Hestia. My name is Alfia, and I’m Bell’s relative.”

“My Goddess, allow me to present to you my auntie.” Bell said innocently and slightly concerned.

“Whaaaat?!” Hestia said both shocked and amazed. “I didn’t know one of the Three Demons was your aunt.”

Immediately, Alfia’s eyes opened wide and stared with a murderous intent at Hestia, who felt intimidated and confused.

Bell grabbed her back and whispered: “Ehm...you see...she doesn’t like anyone calling her ‘aunt’ but me.” he said with a slightly embarrassed tone.

Understanding the situation, Hestia moved in to repair the damage. “Oh, uh, I meant...I didn’t know Bell had bonds with such a beautiful, young lady!”

Alfia closed her eyes and made a polite smile. “You’re too kind, Goddess. I apologize for intruding, but I had to see where my nephew was hiding.”

Bell made a slightly afraid chuckle: it seemed like she hadn’t forgiven him all the way, yet.

“Yes, ehm...I know it’s not like being part of Ouranos Familia, but me and Bell are quite happy here.” Hestia stated.

Alfia gave another look around. Sure, the idea of living in a crypt didn’t exactly speak ‘comfort’, but that place seemed to have all the basic services and a decent amount of food. Plus, with the money Bell had brought back that day, they should have been able to stay well-fed.

“I suppose so. However, there is something very important that I wish to discuss with the both of you. Can we sit?” she asked politely.

A bit surprised and nervous, Hestia still obliged. “Sure. Please, take the armchair.”

“Thank you.” Alfia said and did it, while Bell and Hestia sat on the sofa next to it.

“Goddess Hestia.” the mage started. “Since today was Bell’s first day I presume you couldn’t see much yet, but I’ll ask anyway: did you notice anything strange in Bell’s stats?”

The question was definitely weird. The stats were usually a private matter within Familias, but Hestia could tell that Alfia wasn’t just asking that out of curiosity. There was a much deeper reason.

“Not that I recall. They were standard for a new child.”

“And yet, Bell has already reached the fifth floor, today.”

Hestia needed a moment before her eyes popped out. “What?! Bell, explain yourself!!”

“Ugh...I…” Bell stuttered, having no real excuse ready.

“I know I shouldn’t ask, but can we update his status right now?” Alfia calmly asked.

Hestia hesitated for a moment, but Bell gave him a reassuring smile. He trusted his aunt with his life, so the Goddess had no real qualm. Besides, it might have been better to stay on the good side of the most powerful mage in the city. Bell removed his shirt, showing his falna, and laid down on his belly.

Therefore, Hestia took a needle and spilled a drop of her blood on the falna and a small amount of Arcanum was released to allow her a check on the child’s stats. The light of the power of the Gods illuminated the whole room, making every other source of light fade as hieroglyphs flew all around. Only the Gods had the ability to understand what all that meant.

When Hestia gasped in surprise, Alfia knew that she had found something.

“Bell, your Abilities...they all jumped to F!” she exclaimed, unable to hold her surprise.

“Eh?!” Bell asked, dismayed. “Really?!”

“How is this possible? It’s your first day!!”

“Please, keep calm, Goddess Hestia.” Alfia instructed. “Is there any Skill?”

Hestia regained her focus and kept looking. She made another expression that couldn’t have been clearer to the mage. Finally, the light disappeared and Hestia proceeded to stamp the abilities in the translated Koine version on a divine sheet.

While Bell dressed up again, Hestia passed the paper to Alfia first, with a very alarmed expression. The Level 7 took and calmly read it. Bypassing the Abilities, she went straight to the Skills section.

Liaris Freese

Fast growth as long as the user is in love. The strength of the effects corresponds with the level of the user's feelings. As a side effect it makes the user immune to charms

A bit surprised by that description, Alfia read it again. She thus noticed that the Koine term used in the first line was that indicating ‘romantic love’, not a ‘filial love’.

Only one person came to Alfia’s mind that could have stirred such a sentiment that day.

And it seemed like Hestia was very upset by that. Alfia barely held back an amused grin as she returned the paper to Bell and restarted talking with a dead serious tone.

“As I thought. You have a skill for accelerated growth.” she stated.

Bell read the paper with a certain haste. Hestia looked at the mage, apparently unwilling to reveal the skill to Bell, but Alfia made a slow nod to tell that she would handle this, however she would not hide anything from her nephew.

Bell in the meantime had read the skill and was starting to turn red like a tomato. Hestia started pouting and grumbling as a result.”

“Ehm...am I...reading this right?…” he asked, hoping to be told wrong.

“You tell me.” Alfia replied amused. “Try to think when you might have felt that feeling.”

“Yeah...I want to hear that as well…” Hestia slowly said.

Bell pondered for a second, then he became redder and hid his face between his hands for embarrassment.

“My, you’re really growing up, aren’t you?” Alfia said as she chuckled.

“Bell!!! What is the meaning of this?!” Hestia asked, crying in an overboard way.

“No! I-I mean...gaaahh!!!”

“Bell, you’re a philanderer!! A cheater!!!” Hestia yelled and started throwing weak punches on his head like a betrayed girlfriend.

“All right, Lady Hestia, calm down.” Alfia ordered after a few more seconds and the Goddess reluctantly abated. “The real issue here is Bell’s growth rate.”

Acknowledging that, Hestia returned to a serious composure. “Lady Alfia, do you know something that Bell might have overlooked?”

“Well...I guess we never taught him the importance of this detail: both his parents had an active falna when he was conceived.”

“What…?” Hestia asked, then turned toward Bell in disbelief.

“Ehm...is it such a big deal?” Bell asked, confused and slightly afraid.

“It’s a huge deal!” Hestia intervened. “You know that Gods cannot create other Gods in any way, right?”

“Of course. You are immortal and your number is unchanging. Even if you ‘die’ in the lower world, you will still be present in Heaven.” Bell replied.

“Exactly. And adventurers who receive a falna, that is, a very small part of our divinity, generally lose the chance to have kids as long as they have the blessing. If two of them decide to try and have one, they need to have the falna sealed for the time being. A conception from two blessed people is...well, it’s extremely rare.”

“The last recorded person to be born with that peculiarity was Heracles.” Alfia added. “He, too, grew at an unprecedented rate even without a specific Skill. In fact, when our gods heard that your parents had done it, they were planning to have Heracles teach you once you were born, but...well.”

Not wanting his aunt to remember painful memories, Bell tried to bring the main conversation back.

“So...do you think this Skill can be a problem?”

Alfia regained her footing. “If you let it get to your head, for sure. But it’s not just that: the simple news that you reached the fifth floor on your first day won’t be late to spread around and it will attract all sorts of horrible attention: that of the Gods and that of jealous adventurers. That’s why I made sure everybody saw you with me.”

“To protect me?” Bell asked, a little demoralized.

“At least on the surface. Nobody will dare to touch you inside Orario, because me and your uncles would eradicate them.” she said coldly. “However, if you keep drawing too much attention, then the monsters will not be the only threat for you in the Dungeon.”

Bell gulped and felt quite afraid. Hestia thus grabbed his hands and asked with a slight pleading: “You heard her, Bell. So promise me that you won’t go further than the fifth floor, for a while.”

After pondering for a second, seeing that his aunt was also making that request with her silent gaze, the boy smiled and promised: “All right. I will follow your advice, so you won’t have to worry.”

Moved by that, Hestia smiled and then leaned her head onto his shoulder. After a brief moment, Alfia stood up and Bell quickly reached her.

“Auntie. Thank you...for everything.” he said affectionately.

The mage smiled and opened her arms. “Come here.”

Bell eagerly went in and they hugged. “I want you to follow your dreams and to become a hero, Bell. But please, don’t make me worry like today again.” she asked tenderly.

“I promise, auntie.” Then they broke the hug and he showed a determined, excited expression. “Before you notice, I’ll become strong enough to take you and the uncles on in the arena.”

Alfia made a chuckle. “Trust me. We all look forward to that.” she said proudly, then turned toward the Goddess in the room. “Lady Hestia, I entrust this rash boy to you.” she said and made a bow. “Please guide him with your wisdom.”

Hestia had not expected that, but she made a proud smile and gave her a thumbs up. “Leave that to me!”

“Bell, I have some work to do tomorrow, but there’s a pub down the road that serves the best dishes for adventurers. Why don’t we and the uncles meet there tomorrow for dinner?”

“Of course!” Bell said with sparkly eyes.

“Would you like to join us, Goddess Hestia?” Alfia asked politely.

“Ah, don’t worry about me.” Hestia said kindly. “I don’t want to barge into a family reunion. Besides, I have a few things to do.”

“As you wish. Then see you tomorrow, auntie’s boy.” the mage concluded with a small pinch on her nephew’s cheek.

“See you, auntie.”

Chapter Text

The morning after, the three friends found themselves in the port town of Melen. A cargo ship manned by a small squad of the City Guard was preparing to sail while Zald gave his farewells.

“Sheesh. You’re cruel, Alfia. Now I’ll regret not spending some time with Bell.” he quipped.

“Sorry, Zald.” the woman apologized with a regretful smile. “I forgot you were leaving and I promised him without thinking.”

“It’s just another reason for you to end this war quickly. Then we will all enjoy a nice meal together.” Dardanus joked.

“I hope I’ll get there in time, though. By sea, it’s still 4 days to reach the first port of Nineveh.”

“Our shared plan involved them using hit-and-run tactics to slow the invaders down until you showed up. But I won’t lie: expect the worst scenario until you get there.” Dardanus warned.

“Got it.” Zald replied, then extended a hand. “Keep everyone in line while I’m away. Especially the kid.”

Dardanus gripped their hands together. “Of course.”

Shortly later, the ship was on its way and the other two high-level adventurers started the walk back to Orario.

“What’s on your mind?” Alfia asked, noticing the turbulent aura that surrounded Dardanus.

“Ugh, where do I even start?” he quipped to begin. “First of all, we just discovered a plot deep within the Dungeon, which is extremely hard to investigate. Now we got Bell springing forward without us noticing. Micromanaging every crisis in Orario will surely be the end of me.”

A lfia chuckled amused. “You signed up for this.”

“I know…”

“Anyway, you were right about one thing: I feel much better knowing that Bell is now in Orario. Even if he started exploring the Dungeon, I can visit him basically every day.” she added with a fond smile.

D ardanus laughed. “And he took that old geezer advice to the letter: to meet a girl in the Dungeon. Except that he’s aiming to the top.”

“Don’t remind me. I hope that he didn’t take the perverted lust of his father and the old geezer.”

“We are always in time to beat that out of his soul, but I don’t think Bell is capable of thinking anything more intimate than holding hands.”

“Still, it’s quite a unique Skill he got. We figured his growth would be accelerated somehow, but to think that it would be fueled by love...maybe it is Zeus’ fault.” she added.

Dardanus smirked. “ They say the power of love can make miracles. Let’s just accept it, for once.”

Alfia briefly chuckled before asking a serious question: “Did news spread about his achievement?”

“I heard whispers at the Guild. Though I guess it’s mostly our fault for searching him so frantically. People started inquiring why the three of us were so interested in a rookie. Of course, most of them presume that we are favoring him.”

“Well, at the very least, everyone should be wary not to mess with him for petty motives.” the mage declared calmly.

“Any challenge to him is welcomed for his growth, but yeah, I have a feeling he will have plenty of those anyway, moving forward.”

“What we need to do is giving him the space to grow. Keep him away from the threats he is not ready to face, yet.”

“Alfia, don’t start it.” Dardanus calmly warned her. “You know we can’t protect him all the time. Of course, if another Familia causes trouble to him, I’ll be the first to jump in, but there’s a limit to how much we can do for him. From what he told us, I think he shares that sentiment.”

“Well, let’s leave that topic aside, for now. What’s the plan, today?” she then asked.

“I want to follow the trail of the orichalcum contraband.” the Executor said. “It’s bad already that someone is hoarding such an amount privately, but what worries me is the fact that the guys defending it chose to poison themselves rather than being captured. I don’t want to jinx it...but it reminds me of…”

He stopped, as if saying that word could summon back that peril that had almost devoured the city years before.

“Evilus.” Alfia said anyway.

“Yeah.” Dardanus huffed. “We never really captured their leaders, so we can’t exclude that they’re rearing their ugly head.”

“Olivas Act got himself chewed by monsters on the 27^th floor, though.”

“And he brought too many adventurers with him.” Dardanus said regretfully. The Nightmare of the 27^th floor was still one of the most stinging failures for him, for it had occurred just a year after the Great Feud and Orario was bouncing back from the Dark Age. He had long regretted not being able to foresee and prevent it. “We also couldn’t find and banish all the Gods implied and their Familias. However, I don’t want to get too prejudiced about this. If you got some spare time, would you mind taking a stroll around Daedalus Street?”

“You think we’ll find something there?”

“If you want to hide something in Orario, there’s no better place than that.”

“Well, I guess it’s better than standing guard on one of the deafening main streets. I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, Alfia. I owe you one.”

“You can pay for me and Bell’s dinner tonight, if that makes you feel better.” she said with a smirk.

He chuckled. “All right. I should make up to him after the rash welcome I gave him yesterday.”

“He deserved that, though.” she said severely. “It’s not the fact that he started running, but that he didn’t even warn us after everything we have done for him.”

“Just say that you were worried about him.”

“I already said that!”

“All right. Better get to work. While you stroll around Daedalus, I’ll move our troops around to make it look like we’re searching the other districts. Also, I have Hermes Familia on the job. You will draw any attention on you while they watch from the shadows for any suspicious reaction to your presence in Daedalus.”

“Sounds good enough for me. I hope we can find something quickly: the Monsterphilia is next week.”

“Right...don’t get your hopes up, though. I’ll see you this evening.”

“Good hunting.”

“So, anything useful?” Dardanus asked.

Both him and Alfia were already waiting in front of the Hostess of Fertility, the pub where Alfia told Bell to come once he had finished his daily exploration of the Dungeon. They were both sporting some modestly elegant outfits.

“Perhaps. I talked with the people in Daedalus and there might be something interesting. Something about possible smuggling of monsters.” Alfia replied with a tone hushed enough that only the Executor could hear it.

“Uhm...that’s not exactly a novelty, but I trust your judgment. I’ll pass it to Lygas.”

“Good. Now, let’s not talk about impending doom, please. This is our real welcoming party for Bell, after all.” Alfia concluded with a smile that gave away a small trepidation.

Dardanus chuckled. “That boy really changed you.”

“How so?” she asked curious.

“Before you met him, you were always so strict with everybody. No, I am not afraid to say you were quite self-centered.”

“Bold statement from the guy who decided he would single-handedly raise the next generation of adventurers.” she quipped, feigning to be mortally offended. “But I guess you have a point. Before you convinced me otherwise, I thought it would be better if I never met Bell, and if that had to happen anyway, that I would hide our kinship.”

“There are still those two topics that can turn you into a pure cataclysm, but overall, you’ve become more approachable. Understanding, perhaps, would be the word.”

“Are you trying to flatter me, Executor?”

Dardanus laughed amicably. “As if. I know better than try to hit on you.”

“Good boy.” she replied in kind. “Now, where is Bell?”

“Uhm...yeah, I thought he would be here by now...I hope he didn’t run into more trouble…”

“Auntie! Uncle Dardanus!”

The voice couldn’t have been more on cue. Alfia and Dardanus turned in that direction and saw they young boy, wearing his black and brown outfit, running at them with an arm raised. Alfia promptly opened her arms and Bell didn’t lose the chance to give a warm hug to his beloved aunt, who went so far as to loudly smooch him two times on the top of his head.

Bell then detached and went to give one to Dardanus as well, who returned it fondly.

The Executor quickly noticed that there were people watching, for if seeing him and Alfia together couldn’t help but raise reverence or even speculations, seeing them being all chubby with a random adventurer was almost shocking.

“How was it today, tiger?” he asked as he gently clapped his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

“Well...I didn’t run into another monster I couldn’t possibly fight, so...there’s progress.” he quipped, surprising his guardians a little bit.

B oth of them laughed. “ Then let’s get inside and celebrate your first day without incidents.” Dardanus joked.

“Wait...where’s Uncle Zald?” Bell asked, looking around.

“Sorry, Bell.” Alfia replied. “His duties brought him this morning aboard a ship. He will be away for a few weeks, at the very least.”

“Oh…” Bell said, a bit letdown. “I was looking forward to share an evening all together.”

“We’ll make up for it, Bell. Now, how about we go? I’m starting to feel hungry.” Dardanus invited.

T hey pushed the swinging doors and entered the pub. Bell was surprised to see just how many people were crowding the place. That place seemed to be quite popular. There w ere four waitresses in a green dress and white apron running around to serve everybody, and then a fifth one appeared in front of them.

“Ah, Mister Bell.” a young girl with azure hair wrapped into a ponytail greeted.

Bell blushed slightly and rubbed his neck. “Miss Syr. As I said, I was coming anyway.”

This Syr then noticed who else had entered with him and was surprised, though she held up very elegantly.

“Lord Dardanus. Miss Alfia. Are you with Mister Bell?” she asked.

“Hello, Syr. This is my nephew.” Alfia replied cordially. “But it looks like you already met him.”

“Oh, ehm...Miss Syr offered me a packed lunch this morning, in exchange for me coming here this evening.” Bell explained a little embarrassed.

“Goodness, boy. You’ve been here for a week and you’re already stealing hearts? I bet it’s the old geezer’s fault.” Dardanus teased him.

“More like she wanted to cash well.” Bell quipped back.

Syr feigned a dumb expression, then turned around and said loudly: “We’ve got customers!”

S ince all the tables were booked or taken, the three agreed to sit at the counter, where they were greeted by the owner: a brawny dwarf woman called Mia Grand.

“Yo, Alfia. Dardanus.” she greeted in a way that showed a long and friendly relationship between all them.

“Hello, Mia. Looks like business is going great.” Alfia gently greeted.

M ia had already taken three pints even if she had a hand busy with a plate to give to the waitresses. As she placed them in front of the trio, she noticed Bell and stopped, then looked at Alfia again with an inquisitive look, then back and forth another time.

“Wait, since when do you have a kid, Alfia?” she asked, hiding her shock quite well.

B ell hummed as he tried to reply, but his aunt did it without hesitating . “He’s my nephew, actually. He arrived in the city this week.”

“It’s the customer I told you about, Mama Mia.” Syr intervened with a witty smirk.

M ia laughed and finished disposing the pints. “Goodness. I thought I was going senile. Well, welcome to Orario, boy. Eat a lot and, most importantly, spend a lot here!”

“Ehm…I don’t really have all that money.” he said with a timid smile.

“Don’t worry about it, kid: tonight is on me and your aunt.” Dardanus reassured.

Bell turned his head a little worried. “No, no, uncle. I can pay my own share .”

“Bell, we know you are a resourceful kid.” Alfia said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But allow us to spoil you before you actually start to make a good cash.”

“T-Then thanks.” he conceded with an embarrassed smile.

A s they shared a moment of silence, Bell started hearing a series of comments. He glimpsed back and saw that basically the entire pub was looking at him and his guardians. Many were wondering who that strange kid was doing with two of the most powerful adventurers of the city, though many were starting to connecting the same dots like Mia had just done.

“This is quite...awkward.” Bell commented.

“Why is that, Mister Bell?” Syr asked innocently as she cleaned the counter in front of him.

“Well...I came here intent on making a name on my own, but I feel like I’m being favored.”

“We’re your family, Bell.” Alfia reassured with a calm tone. “And we’re just sharing a meal. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yes, but I mean: people will inevitably think that you two are helping me progress in the Dungeon.”

“If they have a functioning brain, they will verify that prejudice.” Dardanus cut short. “If not, then they’re not worthy of your attention. Now let’s relax and enjoy our dinner.”

“That’s the spirit! So, what will you have?” Mia eagerly asked.

T he three finally started their evening together. Bell shared with them some stories while asking them about their own adventures in Orario. While avoiding the matter of the current investigation, Dardanus and Alfia also took the occasion to give some advice to the overly eager adventurer.

T he other even t bookmarking that evening was when none other than Loki Familia entered the pub. Bell noticed them since he was sitting in a place that gave them a good view on the entrance.

“That people…” he murmured, almost paralyzed.

“Oh, Loki Familia.” Syr said with a little excitement. “They’re our loyal customers.” she added as she hurried to go and greet them.

A nd among them, Bell spotted Ai s Wallenstein. All of a sudden, he blushed as he remembered her appearance the day before...and how he had run away without even thanking her. He thus lowered his head as if he was trying to become small enough to go unnoticed.

“Guess they’re here to celebrate their latest expedition.” Dardanus commented merrily.

T he whole Familia was then escorted on the complete opposite end of the pub, where there was a pretty long row of circular tables booked for them.

“Do you want me to introduce you to her, Bell?” Alfia teased.

“P-Please don’t even joke about it.” Bell replied with a blushing panic. “B-But...do you really know her that well?”

“She’s a constant presence in our weekly sessions at the Amphiteatron. She is always trying to beat at least one of us.”

“R-Really?”

“Yup.” Dardanus interjected. “Though, so far, the only person who achieved that is the Captain of Freya Familia: last year, he defeated Zald.”

“What?! No way!” Bell asked shocked and impressed. “Uncle Zald lost to someone?!”

“Hey, that guy had tried for years on end. For him, it had become a matter of pride to beat him.”

“He still couldn’t defeat you, though.” Alfia joked.

Dardanus chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll wait for him to catch up and try again.” he replied as he took a long sip of beer.

Bell knew who they were talking about: Ottar, nicknamed ‘King’, was the first adventurer to ever reach Level 7 since the destruction of Zeus and Hera Familias. He just didn’t know that the Boaz had achieved that by repeatedly diving into the Dungeon on his own and challenge Zald at every possible chance.

T he evening went on. His gaze sometime wandered back toward Ai s . He couldn’t help but notice how composed she looked even in the middle of that lively feast. His thoughts went back to the Skill he had just acquired the day before. To think that it was fueled by the feelings she had inspired in him rendered everything much more difficult for his poor heart.

“That’s right, Ais! Why don’t you tell us about the other day?!” someone among the Loki Familia yelled, to such a degree that soon enough everybody in the pub was listening out of curiosity. “You know, about the Minotaur you defeated on the 5^th floor and the tomato kid?!”

T he tone couldn’t have been more evidently mocking. Bell immediately realized that that werewolf was talking about him, and even Alfia and Dardanus quickly realized it.

“Are you referring to the Minotaurs that ran from us on the 17^th floor?” an Amazon asked.

“That’s right.” the Werewolf replied. “The bastards that made us frantically chase. The last one reached all the way up to the 5^th floor. And there, there was someone who looked like a rookie. An utterly useless and weak brat!”

B ell felt the sting of that word and gripped the fork he had in his hands. Dardanus could sense a murdering aura growing around Alfia.

“Calm down, guys. It’s just drunken rambling.” he said, carefully.

“The worst kind of noise, if you ask me.” the combat mage replied coldly.

“Seriously, he was so pathetic. Shaking in fear and all.” the werewolf continued with absolutely no regard.

A nd every word pierced Bell’s heart more and more, while at the same time depleting Alfia’s patience.

“Then...Ais cut the Minotaur at the last moment, and the blood splat all over this kid. He became a tomato guy!” the beastman ended laughing loudly. “Our Princess scared away the person she had just saved!”

That last part prompted a laugh from most of the Familia, though Ais, the Captain and the two Executives were not, as far as Dardanus could see, taking part in it.

“But it has been a while since I have seen such a worthless person.” the drunken man insisted, and now even the Executor was starting to lose his temper. “Just looking at him makes me feel uncomfortable. He is a boy, and yet he ran.”

“That’s not true!” Ais replied with a firm voice, to the surprise of many. “You’re wrong, Bete. I saw him as I was coming in, and that boy was intentionally stalling the Minotaur. Any other adventurer we had met on the way rightfully hid or escaped. That boy instead decided to risk his life to give us the chance to catch the monster.”

“You heard her.” Riveria added with more severity. “That boy deserves our thanks and our apologies for causing him to face an impossible situation.”

“Oh, so he is weak and stupid.” Bete Loga was simply not giving up.

A t that point, Alfia silently stood up from her chair, and started walking toward the werewolf, who had his back on them. All the while he kept demeaning Bell by calling him weak, even if the entirety of his Familia had now fallen silent and was not following him.

At one point, he literally asked Ais whom she would like the most between the two of them. Ais immediately stated that she would never have Bete, but when he asked whether she would accept a confession from a weakling, she didn’t reply.

“Bete, you should really stop…” Finn suddenly said, for half of the Familia had noticed Alfia approaching.

“Why? What’s the problem with calling trash, trash?”

“Ehm...Bete…” Raul stuttered, trying to point behind the werewolf.

“A weakling does not suit Ais Wallenstein at all!”

B ell just pushed away the chair and ran out of the pub at full speed, surprising even Dardanus.

At the same time, the echo of a punch that could be mistaken for an explosion resonated in the whole place, turning all gazes toward the direction of Loki Familia. Confused, Dardanus first noticed that Loga was on the ground, his head having opened a hole in the floor. Alfia was standing over it, immobile and with her fist swung. The whole Loki Familia stared at her with a mixture of terror, shame or exhaustion.

G runting, the Executor took his bag of money, containing 6 .000 valis, and put it on the counter, next to Mia.

“For the dinner and the damage.” he said and hurried outside of the pub.

However, Bell had already disappeared.

T he morning after, Dardanus headed to the abandoned chapel with Alfia, hoping to find Bell. However, they only found Hestia waiting at the door with the same apprehension.

“Goddess Hestia?” Dardanus presented himself.

“Uh…? Executor Dardanus?!” she asked surprised.

“Apologies for disturbing you first thing in the morning, but have you seen Bell?” he asked, not hiding his preoccupation.

H estia could only made a silent, sad huf f, and the two adults couldn’t help but imitate her.

Then, the sound of footsteps entering the fairly large area of ruins outside the chapel could be heard. They all turned and saw Bell, visibly covered in blood and weak on his legs, so they rushed to him.

“Auntie...Goddess…” he said with a weak voice, yet smiling, then fell on his knees.

A lfia dashed just in time to grab him.

“Bell...don’t tell me you spent the night into the Dungeon.” she asked, though the answer was quite obvious.

“Sorry…” he said, not giving up his smile. “But...I want to become stronger.”

H estia went and put her hands around his head.

“You got it, Bell.” the Goddess said.

“For now, let’s clean those wounds, shall we?” Dardanus said with the same care as the women.

Bell nodded and stood up. They all went inside, allowing the Executor to see the place that his ward now called home. Somehow it annoyed him a little that the kid had to live like a homeless, but he let that matter slide: he seemed happy just like that, anyway.

T he women cleaned up the blood and put a bandage on the head and left forearm of the boy, where there were a couple of cuts, though nothing to be worried about.

“Bell, I understand that you feel like that idiot’s words were true, but you can’t take them all that seriously: you just started this job, of course you’re still weak.” Dardanus then started, talking in the calm tone of a mentor. “And even considering that, let me repeat that you have already made a huge achievement by reaching the fifth floor already. Not to mention that you risked your lives to stall a monster you couldn’t fight in any way just to stop it from harming others.”

“He’s right, Bell.” Alfia added in kind. Her closed eyes making her appear even more solemn. “And you saw your status yesterday. You have a lot of potential for growth, but it takes time and constant effort. You won’t become strong just overnight.”

“I know...but I really want it. I want to become stronger...I want to become like the heroes of the old tales.” Bell said with a calm smile that hid a burning desire.

“And we will all support you, Bell.” Hestia said tenderly. “But, please, don’t go running away like that. Did you forget the promise you made me?”

C aught on point, Bell took a moment to adjust his smile and said: “Of course not, my Goddess. I will never leave you alone.”

Alfia then stood up from the sofa and declared: “Then I guess it’s time we pick up your training.”

“Uh?” Bell asked.

“I have always insisted that we shouldn’t have taught you anything more than basic survival skills, because I honestly hoped that you wouldn’t pursue the path of the adventurer. But clearly, we’re past that point.” she said with firmness. “Bell, if you want to become stronger, I can train you between dungeon explorations.”

A fter registering those words, Bell’s jaw fell and his eyes widened with hope. “Y-You really mean it?!”

“Do you take me for someone who just throws around promises?” she asked severely.

“N-No, auntie! Thank you very much!”

“Wait before thanking me. I will of course restrain myself, but I’ll make sure that you’re pushed to your limits.” she warned. “If you truly want to keep saying that you want to become a hero, then it’s my duty to show you just how harsh that road really is.”

“I understand!” Bell declared loudly and with his resolve at an all-time-high.

A lfia found that reason enough to give a satisfied smirk.

“Then make sure to rest today. We’ll begin tomorrow in the morning.”

“I can begin now!” Bell said with impatience.

“Bell, you’re auntie’s boy and I love you, but you just spent the whole night in the Dungeon. You need to rest.” Alfia replied with a mixture of affection and reprimand.

“Since now you’ll be around, Lady Alfia, can I ask you to watch over Bell for the next two or three days? I need to go to a certain place.”

“Eh? You’re leaving, my Goddess?” Bell asked surprised. “Is it for the part-time job?”

“Actually, I’m going to take an invite from a friend and go to this party.” Hestia replied, waving a paper with a label indicating that it was indeed an invite. “I want to mingle with other deities, for a change. It will be better to establish some connections now that we are a proper Familia.”

“Oh...well, then I’ll see you later.”

“Don’t worry, Goddess Hestia. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.” Alfia reassured.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll be right back, Bell.” Hestia said, hugging Bell one last time before walking away.

W ith everything regarding the boy settled, Dardanus took his leave and reached the large facility just next to the Guild’s Headquarters that hosted the City Guard , aka the Ouranos Familia. It was basically a squared building, built with sturdy materials and structured like barracks of other countries, but with everyone living in rooms of two and services that were much better than average. He was waited in the office of Lygas to receive an update on recent events that might need his attention or so that he himself could set the attention of the Guard on a specific issue.

A fter being announced by one of the Level 5 officers, the Executor was allowed inside the office. Lygas stood up from his chair in respect.

“Lord Dardanus. Welcome.” he said.

“Still not going to drop the ‘Lord’, uh, Lygas?” he quipped.

“I simply cannot help it.” the elf replied seriously, though not hiding a slight grin on the right corner of his mouth.

“Hey, boss, we heard you spent the night wandering around the city. Did something happen?” the voice was that of one of the other three leaders of the Guard. An Amazon called Yumbra Kassala, probably the only one of her race that walked around the city while covering herself in a full uniform or armor.

“My godson got a little worked up and fled. But it’s all right, now.” Dardanus minimized.

“Geez. What a way to thank you for spending time with him.” the Vice-Captain of the Guard, Mirne Kyros, a human female, commented.

“Leave it at that, Mirne.” the last of the Executives, the weretiger Tebius, intervened. “We have no right to comment on someone else difficulties.”

“As long as he doesn’t become a street thug, I don’t really care.” the woman replied.

“What about you guys? Did anything come up?” the Level 8 asked to the group of Level 6.

“There is one thing, actually.” Lygas replied in a collected manner. “Fels informed us that he has hired a member of Ganesha Familia, Hasharna, for a solo mission on the 30^th floor. He has departed just before dawn.”

S urprised, Dardanus hummed in thought. “No details on the mission ?”

“He said that you could reach the divine Ouranos’ chamber if you want them. He wants to keep it as secret as possible. However, if I have to make any conjecture, I’m willing to bet that this mission is tied to the investigation over Loki Familia’s report from their latest expedition.”

“And the preparations for the Monsterphilia?”

“So far no incidents. We are overseeing the monster transferring operations of Ganesha Familia on the surface to prevent any sabotage.”

“Have you checked the sewers?”

“I plan to do a sweep tomorrow in the afternoon.” Yumbra replied dutifully.

“Plan a sweep for the day before and the same morning of the festival.” the Executor promptly ordered, leaving the commanders of the Guard with a certain uneasiness.

“Do you foresee trouble on the day of the festival?” Mirne asked.

D ardanus huffed. “ Look, take this with a pinch of salt, but me and Alfia suspect that those monsters might be part of a plan to subvert Orario.”

N ow the leaders were even more alarmed. Even if they didn’t want to believe it, they all trusted the instinct of the Executor. Lygas in particular, being the only former member of Zeus Familia still serving under Dardanus, was always ready to heed his advice.

“Also, make sure to keep sentries around Daedalus Street and a company on standby during the celebrations.”

“Deploying so many troops will probably unsettle the public opinion. Royman will yap up a storm.” Tebius commented, already annoyed at the prospect.

“I’ll take that over risking the lives of our citizens.” Dardanus replied calmly. “In any case, I will be hanging around the Amphiteatron myself, just in case."

“Very well, Lord.” Lygas decided and organized accordingly. “Yumbra, you’ll be in charge of checking the sewers.”

“Yahoo…” the Amazon angrily mocked.

“It can’t be helped: Tebius’ sense of smell would be overwhelmed down there, and you’re the best at close-quarter fighting.” the Captain calmly explained.

“Yeah, I know, I’m the best.” she continued with the same unenthusiastic tone.

“Speaking of which: Tebius, your unit will be in charge of the reaction force for Daedalus. However, stand ready to intervene anywhere necessary.”

“Yes, sir.” the weretiger replied with a salute.

“Mirne, you will preside the surveillance of the arena.”

“Understood.”

“I will set up a command post on top of the divine Hephaistos’ main workshop. The mages will be ready to provide fire support, should you need it.”

The City Guard had around a thousand members, but the number of fighters was actually a little more than four hundred, partitioned under the Executives based on their specializations:

Yumbra led the Heavy Company. Shock troops whose strength, equipment and ferocity could cut through a pack of monsters of the middle floors without breaking a sweat. That was the reason why they had just been assigned to the limited space of the sewers.

T ebius led the L ight C ompany . The explorers and skirmishers, capable of moving rapidly and attack the enemy on the flanks or plug a hole in the formation while waiting for reinforcements. Being specialized in speed and precision, it made sense for them to be designated as a quick reaction force.

Mirne led the Front Company. The bulk of the fighting force, which actually took nearly half of the combatants. This was the main body of the Guard, providing leaders for the city patrols and guarding the gates when they were not involved into an expedition inside the Dungeon or a police operation within the city.

Every member of these companies was either Level 3 or 4. Finally, Lygas had a core of 10 Level 5 guarding him and acting as trump cards. Being a combat mage himself, he also had 20 casters at his orders, and as such they were basically held back as an artillery/ support unit to be called in.

T he Guard then had 300 supporters who ensured communications and supplies between the units , and finally 300 or so Reservists: soldiers beneath Level 3 who spent most of their days training, patrolling the city and grinding experience into the Upper Level s of the Dungeon, preparing for their final Trial in the Middle ones and discovering how they could contribute their best to their comrades.

W hile the Guild was willing to pay the millions of valis necessary to grant a good pay and maintain the quality equipment of the Guard , the training and the expeditions were also a way for them to pay back the city’s main institution of their investment.

T he Guard generally recruited only once a year, and there were always droves of desperate people yearning to escape poverty and weakness through it , but the slots were limited and the selection process merciless.

In any case, they were by far the largest numbering Familia, even if they were subordinates of the Guild, and the fact that Dardanus, Zald and Alfia (though in very different measures) worked with them, not even Loki and Freya Familia would dare to defy them openly. The Guard was thus extremely popular, for the people saw them as the bastion of stability and the one entity preventing major rivalries between Familias to spiral out of control.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, then.” the Executor concluded. “If you need me, I’ll be in my office.”

“Of course. Have a good day, Lord.” Lygas finished with a respectful nod.

D ardanus left the residence, crossed the small alley separating the two buildings and reached the service door of the Guild’s building. He looked on his left: the abandoned chapel was somewhere in that direction and he wondered whether Alfia and Bell were staying there or if the aunt had decided to bring the nephew to her home.

He then reached his office, donned his heavy armor, of which the most prominent piece were the shoulder plates, which resembled a squared off tortoise shell, and grabbed his custom-made bardiche.

Then he headed toward Ouranos’ chamber to consult with his God.

Chapter Text

Bell quickly found out just how serious his aunt was in her statement: the last five days had been massacring, to say the least. Every morning began with nearly two hours of physical exercises, followed by two more of just swinging the knife in basic moves, though Alfia did admit that she wasn’t the best teacher on the matter, since she only went by with her magic.

The solution was simple: one hour before lunch, they would engage in a mock fight.

Though, for being a mock, Bell felt as if he was about to die for real several times.

Alfia was fighting by using short-incantation spells, which required only a word or two to be triggered. Combined with the physical prowess and the abilities that came from her Level 7 Status, it ensured that Bell received more thrashing than in his entire life.

“All right, that’s enough for today.” she declared as midday approached.

Bell huffed fatigued and put away his knife. “What do you mean? Isn’t this just the morning part?”

“Today is the first day of Monsterphilia. And I think you deserve to enjoy the day.” Alfia replied with a smile.

Bell hummed confused and discouraged. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m making any improvement. I should keep training.”

“What are you talking about? This morning, you didn’t fall on the floor even once. That’s a huge improvement.” Alfia said with a smile and a malicious tone.

Bell’s eyes darkened with uneasiness. “You’re a monster, auntie.”

“I did tell you that the road to become a hero is far from pleasant.” she replied in a slightly more serious voice.

Bell chuckled nervously. “I suppose so.” then another question surfaced in his brain: “Hey, what is this Monsterphilia I heard about?”

“It’s a yearly festival organized by Ganesha Familia. They capture monsters in the Dungeon and then they show them in exhibitions where some of their tamers try to subjugate them.”

“Subjugate? Wait...are you telling me it’s possible to tame monsters?!” the boy asked shocked.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Alfia asked, slightly surprised. “I thought we covered that at some point.”

“Anyway, is the festival the reason why I saw so many stalls being set up on Eastern Road?”

“Indeed. Also, with the arena busy and Zald still sailing around, yesterday we had to annul the regular open challenges of me and your uncles.”

“Right...I’d like to see it, one day.” Bell replied a little rejuvenated.

“Soon. In the meantime, we will continue your training. But just for today, let’s relax a little.”

They thus left the chapel and headed toward the eastern edge of the city, where the Amphiteatron was located. As usual, they passed in front of the Hostess of Fertility, which was on the Western Road, the major road closest to the chapel, and they were intercepted by one of the waitresses, the catgirl Anya.

“If you’re going to the Meownsterphilia, can you pawese take this?” she asked in her dialect, handing over a small pouch for women.

“Why?” Bell asked confused.

“Syr went and forgot it here.” Lunor, the only human waitress of the pub, explained. “But she said she was going to the Festival, so you’re likely to run into her.”

“All right, I’ll keep my eyes open.” he offered kindly.

“Thanks, meow!” Anya replied gratefully.

Bell and Alfia proceeded down the road, went past the Babel tower and entered the street leading to the Amphiteatron, now full of stalls on the sides and with a river of people flooding it.

“I did say I would look for Syr, but...how do I even find her, here?” he asked.

“If we run into her, it’s fine. If not, who cares.” Alfia said calmly. “It’s not like you’re her servant. You’re here to enjoy the Festival, as well.”

“If you say so…” he replied with a timid smirk.

They walked on. Bell watched in awe at the incredibly bustling of life that could be found in the city. At the same time, the stream of people turned out to be of little concern as people quickly noticed Alfia and made what little way they could out of reverence.

“You and the uncles sure are famous.” Bell noticed impressed.

“Well, I can’t say we tried to stay in the dark.” then she changed the topic. “So, do you see anything interesting?”

“So many things, actually.” Bell replied, trying to get into the merry mood of the festivity. “Though, now that I have time to think, I’m starting to wonder what happened to my Goddess: she said she would stay away only for three days, but…”

“As long as your falna is active, I don’t think you have much to be worried about. Maybe whatever she’s trying to do took longer than she anticipated.” the aunt reassured.

Barely had she said that, a voice penetrated even the quite lousy streets.

“BEEEEELLLL!!!”

Then a figure slammed into Bell and they both landed on the ground in front of Alfia. If the voice wasn’t enough, as soon as they stopped, it became evident that it was Hestia.

“M-My Goddess.” Bell said surprised.

“Talk about ‘on cue’.” Alfia commented ironically. “You made Bell really worry about you, Goddess Hestia, are you aware?”

That sounded both as teasing as well as a slight threat, yet Hestia seemed too happy to notice.

“Were you really so worried?” she said with an excessively smiling face.

“I mean...you were gone for a while…” Bell attempted to answer.

“Alfia, do you hear me?”

Suddenly, the voice of Dardanus came from one of Alfia’s wrist. Specifically, it came from a pearl mounted inside a small bracelet, which she brought close to her mouth and spoke into it. “I’m here.”

“We need your expertise in magic. Please head to the command post, my men will lead you.”

“Understood.”

Curious, Bell posed a question. “I think I saw uncle Dardanus using one of those to call you, the other day. What is that?”

“Oh, this? A very expensive magical item.” Alfia promptly replied with a modestly cheery tone. “It allows the owners to communicate at a distance. Now, sorry, but duty calls. Enjoy the festival.”

“All right. See you later, auntie.” Bell sent her off with a smile.

Using her speed and strength improved by her magic, Alfia quickly reached the command post of the Guard. Lygas assigned her two scouts who brought her at the entrance of the sewers and then into them, to her extreme annoyance.

Luckily, that annoyance made way to sincere concern when she was led to a singular scene: a section of the sewers sprinkled with what looked like purple blood, though the smell it emanated reminded her more of some kind of sap, which was confirmed when she noticed the remains of giant carnivorous plants scattered on the floor.

Dardanus was knelt, inspecting one of the severed heads, while a large group of Guards that had clearly just emerged from a fight against those things, was inspecting the field while the supporters started gathering materials for study.

“What happened here?” she asked.

It was Yumbra, who emerged from behind one of the resting pillars of the tunnel, that answered.

“We were making a sweep when we encountered these things. They attacked us immediately, but luckily we came out on top.”

“So what do you need me for?” Alfia asked.

“These monsters were acting strange: they seemed dormant right until we encountered them. It almost seemed like they were waiting for some kind of signal.”

“I need you to find whether they were being controlled by a spell.” Dardanus explained. “Let’s explore the adjacent sectors and make sure there isn’t more of them. If there are, try to understand if there is something controlling them.”

“All right. Though I wonder, how did anyone brought these things here?”

“Let’s clean this up, first. We’ll figure that out later.” the Executor calmly instructed.

“Company! Form up!” Yumbra ordered, and the troops immediately formed two lines that started advancing into the tunnel while covering its width, with their commander and the Executor at the front and Alfia behind the first row.

Standing on top of the Hephaistos Workshop, Lygas’ eyes were pointed toward the Amphiteatron. So far, despite the discovery of those plant-shaped monsters in the sewers, the situation seemed under control. Yet, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that this was just the premise to a huge threat.

Lygas pondered. There seemed to be nothing wrong, yet his mind was in a frenzy.

Yumbra had searched that same area the day before, and the monsters were not there. They had been clearly placed only a few hours, if not minutes, before. Who could have done it? Most of all, was it really all? What would’ve been the point of placing those strange plants where they would be easily spotted? There had to be something else coming.

“News from the sentries at Daedalus?” he asked to his Lieutenant, the pallum Emedin Riol.

“No, sir. So far, the sewers are the only source of preoccupation.” the male replied, though he, too, didn’t seem so convinced.

Lygas pondered, then a small intuition came to mind. He turned toward the human cartographer that was updating the map with pawns and scribbles at the table. “Gambon. From the position of Lord Dardanus, where does that section of the sewers lead?”

The man quickly grabbed his pencil and, from the pawn indicating the heavy company, started following and arrived at one, very concerning conclusion. He rose his head on the right, where there was the road separating the district they were in into two pieces, and pointed at the neighborhood standing between them and Babel.

“Over there, sir!” he said clearly, despite the tremble in his voice.

Maintaining calm, Lygas went and asked: “No way that they can reach Daedalus Street from there?”

“Negative, sir. It was the first thing I checked. The sewers our comrades are in are exclusive to this district, since they gather the waste of Hephaistos Familia workshops, which need special disposal.” the cartographer replied diligently.

“Then that’s all I need.” the elf said before bringing the small forearm plate, which had his communication pearl on. “Tebius, this is Lygas. Take your men and head directly to inner industrial district.”

“Understood, we’re moving out.” the weretiger replied with absolute faith in his Captain.

“This is Yumbra. We encountered more plants. We’re beginning the fight.” the Amazon Executive reported.

“Copy that. Eradicate them to the last.” Lygas ordered strictly.

“This is Mirne. We have an emergency!” the voice of the other Executive broke in.

“What is it?” Lygas asked, slightly alarmed.

“Somebody broke into the underground level of the arena and freed some monsters. We count eight cages open. We’re spreading out to find them alongside Ganesha Familia.”

“Understood. Keep me posted.” the Captain responded, trusting his subordinate.

“I must say, these artifacts from Mr. Fels are truly life-saving.” Emedin commented.

“Indeed.”

Now more than ever, the communication pearls were showing how vital they were to help the Guard coordinate its actions. While some of the supporters were fast runners, being able to communicate in real-time from across the city, was an ability that no messenger could replace. It allowed the Captain and the Executives to always have a full picture of the situation, and to pool their skills together to react appropriately.

For better or worse, though, only Fels was able to produce them, and God Ouranos wanted it to stay that way. And even Lygas, despite being a powerful mage himself, had no idea what kind of logic there was behind the functioning of those pearls.

For now, he would take full advantage of that gift to protect his city.

“This is Mirne. Good news: the Sword Princess just showed up and agreed to assist.” news arrived shortly later.

“Glad to hear that, but make sure you don’t fall behind.” Lygas instructed.

“We have already taken down three monsters. Give us some credit. However, the most dangerous one is still to be found.” the woman at first quipped, then returned serious.

“That would be?”

“A Silverback. No sign of it for now.”

Just as the level of calamity was unraveling into his mind, Lygas was taken aback by a rumble coming from the same place he had ordered Tebius to deploy.

He turned around and saw them: huge monsters shaped like carnivorous plants.

“Everyone on your guard!” the elf promptly ordered through the pearl. “Monsters on the surface! Tebius, contain them. Prioritize the safety of the citizens!”

“We see them...what in the name of the Gods is that thing?” the weretiger grunted, but nonetheless, from his position, Lygas saw him and the light company charging into the action.

“Lygas, be careful!” the voice of Dardanus broke in. “Those creatures are drawn toward magical power.”

“Magical power?”

“Yes. Ours are relentlessly aiming at Alfia, but we can use this against them with a good defense.”

“I see. Thank you, Lord.” the elf had already understood what the Executor meant.

“Mirne, what’s the situation with the escaped monsters?”

“We took down eight of them. Some witnesses reported the Silverback chasing a kid and a goddess toward Daedalus Street.”

“Send a squad to the chase, but I want the rest your troops over here.”

“On our way.” the woman replied with just a hint of preoccupation.

“Excuse me!” a young voice spoke from behind them.

Lygas turned around and was a bit surprised to find four notorious members of Loki Familia: Ais Wallenstein, even if she was wearing a casual outfit and not the armor he was used to see her in, then the Hiryute sisters Tiona and Tione and, finally, Lefiya Viridis.

“Please allow us to fight.” Tione said with determination.

Lygas gave a quick look at the battle unfolding right next to him. As the first skirmish in the sewers had showed, those plants were particularly tough. Tebius and his men were constantly hitting them, but only the best weapons seemed to penetrate that tough skin. All the while, the plants were causing destruction all around, which forced the Guards to focus most of their focus on quickly dragging out the civilians.

With the Executor and Alfia still engaged beneath, he had to come up with a solution very quickly.

“Viridis.” he said, without removing his gaze from the battle.

“Y-Yes.” the young forest elf replied loudly and timidly.

“You have the ability to copy a spell of your fellow elves, if I recall?”

“I do.”

“Then I suppose you can use Lady Riveria’s ice spell?”

Probably for the pressure of emulating such a figure, Viridis at first stuttered, but then she regained enough confidence to reply: “Yes, sir!”

“Excellent.” he said with his usual commanding tone. “Emedin. Take everyone we have left and distract those things. Amazons, take a spare weapon and get in there. Sword Princess, you too. Buy your comrade the time needed for the spell.”

Everyone promptly obeyed to the Captain’s orders. Aiz quickly gave Lefiya a few words of encouragement, and it looked like the young elf really needed them. For she was still trembling despite her resolute expression.

“Do not reject fear, fellow elf.” Lygas said to her, who listened with surprised eyes. “It is natural to fear for your life in combat.” he continued as he stepped in front of her. “But if you want to stand by your comrades, then learn to use that fear to your advantage. Go and give it all. We’ll support you with all we have.”

With that, he started chanting while holding his staff. It might have looked like an elegant cane, but the spherical piece on top of it started glowing, showing that it was actually a magic stone.

After a brief chant in the language of the elves, he evoked his spell.

“Orbis Mantle!”

That spell evoked a barrier with a very unusual form: that of a bubble, which offered the two of them an all-round defense.

“Start chanting!” he ordered to the stunned Lefiya.

“Yes!”

Finally, the fairy began the chanting and Lygas quickly confirmed that it was indeed the one he had asked for. The girl wasn’t bluffing.

It took three minutes. In the meantime, the plant-shaped monsters, just as Dardanus explained, clearly started targeting the two elves. The adventurers broke their weapons trying to hold back the creatures. The Guards also threw everything they had at them, though they only managed to slay one of the smaller ones before Viridis finally reached the end of the spell.

Lygas deactivated the barrier and jumped aside, in time for his fellow to nominate her spell.

“Wynn Fimbulvetr!”

A roar ensued, followed by a bridge of ice that expanded forward and targeted the plants specifically. Once the magic circles were dispersed and visibility came back entirely, Lygas admired with a satisfied grin as those hideous plants were finally frozen in place.

Now turned to icicles, the higher levels of Loki and the Guard had no problem turning them into shards with single, devastating blows.

“Excellent work, Viridis.” he commended with a smirk, and Lefiya, though tired, watched at him with surprise. “I will make sure to sing your praises to Lady Riveria.”

Lefiya blushed violently. “T-T-T-That’s not true! I just did what you asked!!” she said, but Lygas knew that his work was not finished.

“Good work, everyone. All free units now converge on Daedalus Street. Find the escaped Silverback!”

Right after hearing that a Silverback was chasing a goddess and a boy, Alfia and Dardanus could not suppress a horrible feeling for the entire fight. Now that they were finally free, they rushed out of the sewers and toward Daedalus Streets, leaving behind the other guards.

“I pray it’s not too late…” Alfia huffed with an anxious tone as they sped through the roofs.

They barged inside the labyrinthine ways of Daedalus and searched for any trace. Their hearings quickly suggested them that there was a huge crowd gathered two alleys past them. They hurried and indeed found said crowd.

However, it wasn’t in a panic. It was like they were watching a show.

And all of a sudden, they let out a cheer of jubilee, which left the two old heroes baffled.

“He killed the monster!”

“Hoorray!!”

Those two words were enough to realize that they were on the right track.

“Excuse me. City Guard. Please, let pass.” Dardanus said loudly but politely. He pushed a little, and the common wouldn’t have been much of an obstacle for him, anyway, but they made way as they recognized the Executor.

And when that Executor and the woman following him went past the crowd, they found a small square with a young man sitting on the floor, battered but satisfied, right next to a drop item and some special shackles, and he was being hugged by a scantily-clad Goddess.

“Bell!” Dardanus called and hurried alongside Alfia.

“Uncle Dardanus. Auntie.” Bell said, tired but happy to see them.

“Did you...did you kill the Silverback?” Alfia asked, still unable to believe that realization.

“Yes. Thanks to her help.” Bell replied, turning his head toward Hestia.

While the Goddess giggled, Alfia took only a glimpse to notice that Bell was holding a knife the likes of which she had never seen. “Where did you get that?” she asked, confused.

But then, Hestia passed out.

“Goddess?!” Bell asked, already panicking.

Dardanus quickly checked her and said: “I think she’s just tired.”

“My home is in the next district. Let’s head there.” Alfia basically ordered.

Bell nodded, carried Hestia in his arms and, with his aunt walking next to him, left the square through the path that Dardanus had opened among the crowd. The Guard had just started to arrive en masse, but after the Executor had reassured them, they stood down. At which point Dardanus said that he was going back to the arena to investigate the incident.

What he learned was enough to put him on high alert, and very upset.

So upset that he headed straight to the southernmost edge of Orario. Toward Folkvangr. The manor of Freya Familia.

However, half along the way of the Southern Street, he was intercepted by someone else.

“Ah, Executor Dardanus! What a surprise to meet you here!”

“God Hermes.” Dardanus said with a barely patient voice. “I have a feeling this isn’t a chance at all.”

“Now, now, good Sir.” the deity continued with his smiling and wily attitude that Dardanus was all too familiar with. “I come here bringing good news from Nineveh and I just couldn’t wait to report it.”

Dardanus sighed softly and decided to get over with that. “I assume Zald has already solved the whole matter over there?”

“Oh, you’re not funny, Sir Dardanus. But yes, as soon as Sir Zald showed up on the battlefield, the three invaders of Nineveh immediately sued for peace. Also, Sir Zald has managed to convince them to instead sign a cooperation treaty with Nineveh against the influence of Rakia, and to fight the monster infestation from the north.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now, may I also assume that you are here to convince me not to press charges against Freya?”

Hermes now took the edge of his hat and lowered it so that only his smirk would be visible.

“Alas. Sometimes I wonder of you are not a God yourself, Dardanus.”

“That’s just experience. Now, give me a single reason why I shouldn’t at least squeeze a fine out of her, considering that she has deliberately put lives at risk.”

“All I can say is...you don’t want to push a Goddess of Love when she is...well, in love.”

“In love…?” Dardanus asked. At first he was confused, but it didn’t take him long to figure that out. “Don’t tell me…”

“Trust me, honorable Executor.” the God replied with a more serious voice. “She has her eyes set. I’d know: I’m a specialist in romance.”

The man with the highest level recorded in the world could only made a resigned and frustrated sigh within his closed mouth. Apparently, now Bell had caught the eye of Freya, and he knew well enough what that meant.

While he hated the idea of letting that Goddess throw problems at Bell for her own satisfaction, Dardanus knew that she would also make sure that he would never die. Therefore he put his anger to rest, for the moment. Pulling an ear to one of the two strongest Familias of the city would invite more hassles in the future, after all.

“To make up for it, I’d also like to share you some new information about those strange plants that attacked today.” the God added in a more diplomatic tone.

“What do you know?”

“We have already confirmed that these are not creatures from the Dungeon. Well, to be more precise, they come from there, but they are not produced by the Dungeon itself, like the other monsters. I don’t know what Lady Alfia noticed, but I, as a God, clearly recognized the energy contained in them: these creatures are soaked with the energy of a Spirit.”

Dardanus’ eyes shot open even as he retained his frown. Alfia did notice that there was an anomalous flux of magic during the battle, but they hadn’t had the time to investigate further since they had to rush after Bell.

“Something tells me you are not all that shocked.” Hermes said, mocking his previous start of the conversation.

“I had a feeling something extremely powerful was at work against us...but I figured it was a God, very cunning, but with limited abilities. But a Spirit...that changes the whole table.”

“The real question is...where is it hiding? If it’s in the Dungeon, it must be on an unexplored level. Otherwise, your old Familia should have already found it.”

Dardanus pondered. “Our deepest floor was the 59th, which even Loki or Freya Familias still need to reach at least once.”

Hermes hummed in thought, as well, before reaching a conclusion: “Well, it’s too early to start making conjectures. There is also another factor that we need to consider.”

“Which one?”

“That Hasharna hasn’t returned, yet.”

The Executor reorganized his thoughts and realized that yes: given he was a Level 4, Hasharna should’ve already made it to the 30th floor and returned, by that point.

“Let’s wait another day. If by tomorrow morning he doesn’t emerge, I will lead a squad personally to find him.” he finally declared. “You and your Familia keep investigating. Any lead you can find.”

“At your service, Sir!” Hermes went off with a flick on his hat’s peak.

“I’m sorry, Bell.” Dardanus murmured between himself. “But if you want to become a hero...I’ll have to let this slide.”

Hestia was now soundly sleeping on the bed in the guest room of Alfia’s house. She had no fever and no real signs of illness, only exhaustion.

“All she needs now is a good sleep.” the woman said with a relaxed voice.

“Thank you so much, auntie.” Bell said gratefully.

“Don’t even mention it. Rather...can I take a look at that knife?”

A bit surprised, Bell complied nonetheless. He took the knife still inside the sheath and handed it to his aunt. Alfia took it and looked at the external cover first. Almost immediately, on the obsidian black cover, she spotted a writing in red characters, and the name just rolled out of her tongue.

“Hephaistos?” she muttered, but Bell heard it anyway and was stunned.

“Did you say...Hephaistos?? This weapon comes from Hephaistos Familia?!” he asked.

Not having a clear answer, Alfia gently pulled out the blade and inspected it. It didn’t take long for her to notice the hieroglyphs carved into it and a quality that she had never seen in 30 years of life. She felt something...an energy coming from the blade.

“Don’t tell me…” the mage whispered as she kept appraising the weapon. “Yes...there is no doubt: the Goddess of blacksmith herself has forged this.”

“Eh…?” Bell asked speechless.

Alfia put the knife back in its sheath and passed it back to her nephew, though he was still frozen in disbelief.

“Are you...telling me...that Goddess Hephaistos...created this…?”

“I don’t know of a single mortal that could create something like this.” Alfia replied calmly.

“But that’s insane!!” Bell yelled out of confused desperation. “The articles of Hephaistos Familia are super expensive! How did she get a weapon from the Goddess herself?!”

“Don’t ask me. You’ll have to discuss this once she wakes up.” she quipped.

Unable to counter that very simple argument, Bell simply took back his knife and returned to look over his Goddess, though now he had even more questions than before. Not long after, someone knocked at the door, turning out to be Dardanus. Alfia let him in and the two went to check on Bell and Hestia. The Executor reassured his godson that the Goddess would be fine, then he asked Alfia to talk in private. Leaving Bell to guard over Hestia, they reached the opposite corner of the house and Dardanus updated his friend over the last intel given by Hermes.

“Freya caused this mess?” she hissed in a hushed tone, so that Bell wouldn’t hear them.

“If you talk about the monsters released from the arena, yes, but Hermes confirmed that she can’t possibly have anything to do with the plants that attacked the district. Somebody else is involved.”

“I’m talking about the fact that she unleashed a Silverback against Bell all of a sudden! What would’ve happened if Goddess Hestia didn’t bring him that knife?” Alfia said, barely containing her maternal rage.

“I know. It pisses me off, as well, but things turned out for the best, in the end. And now that I’ve seen that knife...I don’t know about you, but I feel much safer regarding Bell’s chances to live and improve.”
Dardanus said with confidence as his gaze turned toward the direction of the guest room.

Alfia made a resigned sigh. “At least Zald will be here in a few days. I need someone to teach Bell how to fight properly with a weapon. I’m just not good with them.”

“Sure. But this whole affair suddenly changed my opinion on Hestia, among other things.” the man said in a placid voice.

“How so?” Alfia asked suspicious.

“I thought she was barely capable of looking after herself, after seeing where they live and how abysmal their finances are. However, she secured that weapon for Bell. It appears that she really cares about the boy.”

Alfia clicked her tongue. “I still don’t trust the fact that she’s supposed to be a Virgin Goddess, and yet she would be all too eager to lose that vow with Bell.” she said severely.

Dardanus made an amused chuckle. “I’m afraid his father and the old geezer might have given him an innate charm.”

“That would be the worst possible outcome.” the aunt reprimanded. “But I guess that, as long as he retains a sense of shame and decorum, I may overlook it.”

“We worked hard to ensure he developed at least that much. Have some faith.” Dardanus joked.

“Anyways, are you going to the 18th floor, tomorrow?” Alfia then asked.

The Executor made a thoughtful grunt. “We will wait until tomorrow morning to see if he was delayed somehow, however, Hasharna is a Level 4. He should’ve come back already. Whatever it is that Fels asked him to fetch.”

“You know...my intuition is telling me that something very sinister is about to take a huge bite at us.”

“Come on, Alf. We have survived the Black Dragon. What else there is for us to be afraid of?” Dardanus quipped quite confidently. “In the meantime, I’ll leave you here to guard the city...and that adventure-loving boy in that room.”

“With a weapon delivered by the love of his Goddess, maybe I can relax a little more around him.” Alfia quipped back. Then she added with a more cautious voice: “Be careful, down there. As I said, something feels very wrong about all this.”

He nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m not dying before we all have a family dinner with Zald.” he said with a stern face.

Alfia chuckled. “You better not, or I’ll put a curse on you.”

Smiling, the Executor left the house. Alfia then returned into the guest room. Bell had not heard anything, luckily, and they spent a couple hours talking about the Dungeon, playing cards and sharing a few stories before Hestia finally woke up, with her first, mumbled word being:

“Bell…”

The boy immediately went and knelt next to the edge of the bed. “My Goddess! Thank goodness, you’re okay!”

“Sorry...I guess I was a little tired.” she said with a smile that confirmed her words.

Remembering his aunt’s assessment, Bell grabbed the knife and showed it to Hestia. “Goddess...is it true? Did you have this knife created by…?” he was still so astonished that he didn’t want to pronounce that name.

Hestia finally noticed that Alfia was in the room and commented amused: “I can’t hide anything from your mama, eh?”

“It wasn’t that difficult to realize.” Alfia replied with a smirk. “Were you away to help forge this?”

“Well, yes. I couldn’t leave all the work to Hephaistos, after all. I spent two days begging and three days helping.” Hestia said proudly.

Finding a bit weird that she was proud of having begged for two days, another question popped in Bell’s mind: “But, Goddess...how much did this cost?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Hestia replied with a serene tone. “We agreed that I alone will work to pay its price. Starting in two days, I will have another part-time at Hephaistos’ shop.”

“What?!” Bell asked paling. “Two part-times?! But my Goddess, is my duty to maintain you, you shouldn’t…”

Hestia gently grabbed one of Bell’s hands and he seemingly calmed a little.

“Bell, I didn’t want to just stand aside and watch you. I did this because I want to support you as best as I can. This knife is a symbol of my love for you, and I don’t regret anything I’ve done or that I will have to do for you to receive it. You just focus on chasing your dream, because this one is my decision and my responsibility. Leave me at least this small dignity, Bell.”

Moved by those words, Bell eventually broke down in tears of joy mixed with a little shame. Alfia sighed but smiled fondly: her nephew was just too pure to accept the simple truth in Hestia’s words, for she certainly wasn’t the only deity in Orario that had to work for a living. Bell still perceived as if it was his responsibility to provide for his Goddess, a trait no doubt passed down by Zeus, the woman pondered.

“Damn you, old geezer.” she murmured to herself as she went and went to gently caress Bell’s back to cheer him up a little.

“Goddess...I will become stronger...I promise…” Bell said in tears, renewing his promise.

“Of course, Bell...with a little help from her, right?” Hestia replied while looking at Alfia.

“Not just me: uncle Zald should be back in a week or so. Once he comes back, we are going to update your training, so I hope you’re ready, dear Bell.” she said with an amused admonishment.

Starting to wipe away his tears, Bell replied with a determined enthusiasm: “Yes, auntie!”

Chapter Text

As feared, Hasharna didn’t come back the following morning.

And what was worse, Ganesha himself had visited Dardanus and told him that his number of blessing had decreased, meaning that his follower ha most likely been killed.

Therefore, the Guard assembled a squad of 20 troopers (plus five supporters) led by Yumbra and they gathered in front of the Dungeon’s entrance as soon as the sun had finished dawning.

“We’re heading for the 18^th Floor. Our agent should have been there last night. Move out!” Dardanus ordered.

But just as they were about to march inside, the Executor was surprised by a familiar voice.

“Greetings, Lord Dardanus.”

Dardanus and Yumbra turned around while the troops stopped as if that didn’t bother them at all. The two leaders thus saw Finn Deinme, the one who had called them, accompanied by none other than Riveria, the Hiryute sisters, Lefiya and even Ais Wallenstein.

“Captain Deinme.” Dardanus greeted politely.

“Is there an emergency in the Dungeon?” Finn asked, clearly suspecting something since the Executor generally didn’t go down in the Dungeon with the Guard, but he probably wasn’t grasping the full motive.

“If you want to explore, no, there is nothing wrong.” he replied. “We are going in for a search.” he said, not wanting to give away too much, but Loki Familia was the closest collaborator of the Guard, so they could be told that.

Finn hummed in thought, then turned toward Riveria, who made a slight shrug. He turned toward the female adventurers behind him and they smirked.

“Mind if we join you?” he finally asked gently.

“You just came back from an expedition, Finn. I wouldn’t like for you to get into more trouble, yet.” the Executor calmly explained.

“We didn’t have a real goal going inside. Might as well make ourselves useful.” the pallum insisted with a smile, then added with a slightly embarrassed smirk. “Besides, I feel like we should clear our image after that display at the pub.”

“If they want to tag along, sir, I certainly will not turn them down.” Yumbra said clearly.

“All right, then, you’re the commander.” Dardanus conceded. “Thank you, Finn. You can keep half of the magic stones we harvest along the way as a payment.”

“We’ll make sure not to slow you down.” the pallum replied.

T ruly, the only way they could have slowed the expedition down would be if they decided to wander out of the quickest path, because as they stuck with the Guard, the pack of high-level adventurers quickly cleared the way of any monster they just happened to cross, so in just three hours they had reached the 18 ^th Floor, and the rogue town of Rivira.

D ardanus and Yumbra had expected to be welcomed with the usual surly gazes and rush to hide anything illegal. However, as they realized that almost the whole population of Rivira had gathered around an inn, the worst fear of the Executor started to take a clearer shape.

“City Guard, make way!” Yumbra firmly ordered to the crowd, and as everyone saw her and the unmistakable Level 8 Executor, they immediately complied.

T hey found a member of the town watch holding the door, but when the Executor asked him what was going on, the man immediately replied: “There has been a murder. Bors is investigating, but if you want in, you’re welcome.”

A murder, in an inn just outside the main conglomerate of wooden huts making the city. Yumbra didn’t waste a moment and turned toward the Lieutenant accompanying the expedition, another Level 5. “Cassius, seal all the city gates immediately!”

“Yes, ma’am!” the human male replied promptly and started splitting the squad accordingly. All the soldiers were Level 3 or even 4, meaning that they were basically stronger than everybody that notoriously lived in the town.

Meanwhile, the two leaders and the party of Loki Familia entered the inn, which was built inside a natural cave and the rooms were only marked by tents.

“This smell…” Tione said, covering her nose.

“Yes. Blood.” Dardanus said with a hushed tone.

They followed the smell to one of the rooms deep down the corridor and they found the Level 3 adventurer that was the informal leader of the city: a sturdy man with leather clothing and an eye-patch on his left eye named Bors Elda.

“Hey, you guys, this place is closed off!” the adventurer at first reprimanded, but then he noticed who just walked inside. “Oh...Executor.” he said with a strained politeness.

Dardanus gave a quick nod but immediately started inspecting the scene: aside from the innkeeper, a cat-person named Viri, who was sitting on the bed with an agitated and distressed look, there was a body on the ground. The body of a toned man in his underwear.

However the most disgusting part of it, was that its upper head had been crushed and opened like a melon, leaving only the jaw attached to the neck and a pool of blood.

“Damn it!” Dardanus hissed.

W ithout a face, he couldn’t confirm it, but he had little doubt about the identity of that unlucky man.

“A friend of yours?” Bors asked.

“Most likely.” Yumbra replied. “I suppose you guys have a Status Thief somewhere?”

“As a matter of fact, I already asked one be brought up quickly.” the man replied a bit annoyed.

“Nobody has heard or seen anything, I assume.” Finn asked.

Bors turned toward the innkeeper. “Viri, you better tell them.”

Even if in shock, the cat-person told them what had happened the night before: a man clad in full plate armor had come in with a woman hidden by a hood and had rented the inn all for themselves. However, when he came to check in the morning, Viri found only the dead man and the woman had disappeared.

“You can’t tell who the woman was?” Yumbra asked.

“As I said, she was hiding under the hood, but I’m pretty sure I have never seen what little of her face I glimpsed.” Viri replied. “All I remember is that she had quite a body.” he added with a sudden lust in his eyes and gesturing the shape of her breasts.

“Oh, yeah! I caught a glimpse of her, yesterday!” Bors added with the same gaze.

Under the irritated stares of three first-class Amazons, they immediately dropped those comments.

“Still, this is your shop. Didn’t you notice anything during the night?” Dardanus asked.

“No, he brought in a hot woman and rented the whole inn. I was so upset that I went to the bar to drink.” Viri replied indignant, but only earned more disappointment by the women.

“And nobody saw the robed woman since then?” Finn asked.

“Yeah...I’m having my boys asking around, but that seems to be the case.” Bors replied a little tired.

“And the payment?” Lefiya tried to hypothesize. “Most payments here happen with Dues, since nobody carries so much money to rent a whole inn, right? Can’t we get his Familia by that?”

“No, he paid me right away with a bunch of special magic stones, so I settled it like that.”

D ardanus hummed in thought. By now, he had a 90% certainty that they were talking about Hasharna. But the ultimate confirmation came when someone finally brought in a Status Thief and poured a drop of that blood-like mixture on the corpse’s back, revealing the Falna.

Immediately, the Executor recognized the symbol of Ganesha, and then he finally saw the name.

“Yes. This is Hasharna.” he finally said. “Yumbra, let’s search his bags, though I doubt we’ll find anything”

“Got it.” the woman replied.

While Bors asked stunned how was it possible that a Level 4 could be killed just like that, the two members of Ouranos Familia gave a look inside the bag and rucksacks in the room, but they only found some normal items and maps.

“Hasharna was on a mission on behalf of the Guard.” was the only explanation he decided to give in front of strangers. “Bors, have everybody gather in the main square. Especially the women.” he finally ordered.

I rritated, but in no position to deny, Bors complied and left the room.

“Finn, I need your companions to organize a search of all the women in town.” he then said, seeing that the whole party of the pallum was made up of females.

“Riveria…” Finn simply said.

“We’re on it.” the High Elf replied firmly.

“I’ll go with them.” Yumbra added.

A s they walked out of the inn, Dardanus called Finn on the side and gave him a quick picture of the situation behind this whole matter, stressing that Hasharna’s mission was most likely about searching ties with what the Loki Familia had encountered on their lat est expedition.

B ut just as they finished exchanging their first opinions, a supporter of the Guard came up.

“Sir, a girl came to us with a package.”

D ardanus and Finn looked at each other. With just a nod the two decided that the Executor would immediately go and check the situation while Finn went to call of the search and gather his party.

Reaching the south ern gate, Dardanus saw a chientrope with tanned skin, short black hair and light brown eyes. She looked on edge and nervous, but most importantly, Dardanus remembered having seen her before.

“Aren’t you from Hermes Familia?” he asked.

“Sir Dardanus...yes, I am. Lulune Louie.” she presented.

“What are you doing here?”

“I...I was asked to come down here and recover a package. I met with the target yesterday in the tavern and, after saying a password, he gave me this.” she said, handing over a spherical object wrapped into a drape. “Then I heard he was killed...I was worried that...whoever killed him would come after me…”

“Don’t worry. You’re safe, now.” Dardanus reassured her with a gentle pat on her shoulder. “We’ll escort you back to the surface.”

“Thank you.” Lulune said with a relieved voice.

F inn and the rest of his group arrived right at that moment.

“Is that what you were waiting for?” the pallum asked.

“Apparently so.” Dardanus said and started unwrapping it.

The adventurers gathered with curiosity around it, but when the Executor unveiled the package, everyone was taken aback.

There was indeed a sphere, filled with a strange liquid and containing something...a creature that looked like some sort of fetus, but extremely disquieting, for it seemed to make an evil grin and its closed eyes matched the expression.

“What in the world is that?” Lefiya asked terrorized.

Dardanus wasn’t sure. His mind was working hard to connect the dots he had been given recently, and a chill started to crawl up his spine. “ It can’t be…” he murmured.

On his left there was Ais, who seemed to be even more alarmed and pale.

Then the fetus opened its eyes...clearly staring at the girl.

The suddenness of that almost made even the Level 8 jump in fear as he put the drape back on. Then Ais all of a sudden collapsed on the floor.

“Ais!” Tiona said urgently and went to help her. Cassius, who was standing next to the group, also jumped in.

L uckily, the Sword Princess quickly regained her sense s, even as she held her head.

“Are you okay?” Riveria asked with a hint of preoccupation.

“Yeah...I’m fine.”

D ardanus looked back at the veiled package and determined that they had been there long enough.

“Yumbra, gather the troops and let’s…”

A sudden rumble shook the whole town. Then, from various spots on the floor, more of the man eating plants of the Monsterphilia emerged. Soon enough, the sky over Rivira was covered by their towering feature.

“All hands, battle stations!” Cassius promptly ordered, making Dardanus ashamed that he had lost focus for a moment.

A s the squad at the Southern Gate formed up, Dardanus issued his order.

“We need to regroup with the Commander at the Northern Gate.”

“Yes, sir! Men! Shield wall!”

“We’ll cover your back, Dardanus!” Finn declared.

A nd while the adventurers dashed against the plants to distract them, the Guards started moving in with their disciplined formation.

Back on the 5 ^th Floor, Bell cut down the last member of another pack of monsters barring his way, stabbing the head of a goblin with the Hestia Knife and turning it into ash .

H e was now standing in front of the access to the 6 ^th Floor.

“Not bad.” the voice of his aunt came from behind. He turned around and saw her approaching from her observation distance, her arms folded in front of her chest. “But did you notice that you’re becoming less mobile?”

B ell was recovering his breath and nodded. “Yes. Can’t really do much about it. The backpack is stuffed.”

“Then I think it’s time to call it a day.”

B ell looked down the access with a tortured expression. “But I really want to explore more.”

“I get your confidence after killing the Silverback, Bell, but you’re slowed down by all that loot. Going down to the 6^th Floor with that handicap is too dangerous.” Alfia admonished. “If you want to come down here, you will need to hire a Supporter, like your Advisor suggested.”

Bell pondered. Then an idea came to his mind and he assumed an innocent tone. “Say...auntie…”

“No!” she immediately replied, irritated at the mere suggestion.

Bell jumped in front of her with his hands joined as if he was praying. “Pleaseee...just the next floor. Then we will go back. I promise!”

“I said no!” she insisted sternly. “Even Eina clearly said that you shouldn’t...”

…

“I despise those eyes of yours, you know?” Alfia grumbled as she held the clasps of the backpack. “They remind me of your father, and yet you still manage to turn into a puppy dog.”

“I’m sorry, auntie.” Bell said with a timid but grateful smile. “To make up for it, dinner is on me, tonight.”

“You better. Now heads up.” she said as the first monsters of the Floor started to come out of the walls.

T he flowers confirmed to have a strength comprised between Level 3 and 4, since most adventurers in Rivira found out to be basically overpowered by themselves. Luckily, with the respite given by the Lokis and the Guard, who managed to quickly liberate the south-western corner of the town, the locals managed to organize themselves in relatively large teams to take on one flower at a time.

However, even if the battle turning in their favor, Dardanus was still unsettled.

Who brought those flowers there in the first place? Was it the woman who killed Hasharna? And was she after the sphere?

A s he stood in the back, observing the battle, Dardanus came to the quick realization that the person they were looking for was most likely a tamer, but the fact that she had brought this new species to attack them was an undeniable proof that the new monsters of the 51 ^st Floor and this one were linked.

A nd combined with the abomination he was holding under his arm, Dardanus understood that the idea of being up against the power of the Spirits was anything but a far-fetched possibility.

“Ais, you sure you want to stick here?” Dardanus asked a little surprised, seeing that the Sword Princess had elected to stay back as his bodyguard.

“Yes...that thing…” she said as she gave another glimpse at the sphere. “Something bad will come out of it.”

B arely had she said that, that Dardanus’ sense of danger flared up, sensing a killing intent coming right above his head. He dashed forward, preparing his bardiche, and a moment later he felt an impact crushing the terrain he was standing a moment before.

As both him and Ais prepared to fight, they noticed that the assailant was somebody clad in a plate armor fit for a man, yet there was something very off about him.

“Don’t move!” Dardanus intimated, but the adventurer clearly wasn’t listening.

In fact, he dashed toward him with a speed that he wasn’t expecting to meet, but as a Level 8, he had no problem stopping it with his weapon, even if he was limited in his movements by the package he was holding. Ais quickly rushed in to protect the Executor and the man was forced to step back.

“Damn. What a hassle.” the mysterious figure said, and then with a simple gesture, the pieces of the armor fell off, revealing a female body instead. “This will only get in the way.”

O nce she had removed the helmet, as well, a gruesome reality showed to the two allies: she was literally wearing the upper half of Hasharna’s face.

“I get it that you’re after this.” Dardanus said, showing the package with his hand and deciding to ignore the horrible show.

T he woman peeled even the face off and revealed her true skin: a red-haired woman with green eyes, but that wasn’t all.

While she seemed to have elvish traits, she lacked the ears of that species, and what unsettled Dardanus the most, was that he had a feeling as if he was looking at a monster of the Dungeon.

“Indeed. Hand it over and I’ll make it quick.” the woman threatened with a neutral tone, a threatening gaze and with new flower monsters suddenly appearing from inside a hut.

“Sir, please stay back.” Ais asked as she stepped between the two and prepared to face the woman.

“Tempest.” she said, activating her magic.

Suddenly, the package started shaking. Caught by surprise, Dardanus lost his grip and the sphere fell on the ground, losing the cape. He thus could notice that the creature inside of it had its eyes fully open and focused on Ais.

“Ais, watch out!” he promptly yelled as he tried to reach the sphere again.

But before he touched it, the sphere broke and the fetus simply flew straight at her. Pulling her head aside in a split second, Ais managed to avoid it, and the small thing instead ended up sticking to one of the flowers.

With even the red-haired tamer seemingly annoyed by that, the flowed started mutating immediately, even shrieking in pain. It started being engulfed in strange filaments that quickly started to spread around the other specimen. Then, all the other flowers rushed toward it, at least those that managed to disengage from the fight against the humans.

“Executor!” the voice of Yumbra broke in as she also jumped in front of him. “Please, get back!” she asked while grabbing his elbow.

A is and the Amazon quickly brought Dardanus back into what was now the new rear of the Guard, which had managed to gather again and create a sturdy line of defense, integrating the adventurers of Rivira to increase its combat power, with Cassius running up and down to make sure there weren’t holes in it. It had been successful enough that there were no deaths among the locals.

Now, the monsters were gathering. Some joined the absurd metamorphosis unfolding in front of everybody’s eyes, some took a defensive formation around this new creature.

In just a few seconds, what emerged was a whole new beast: while the main body was somewhat shaped like a female figure, it had nothing else that vaguely resembled any human-like species. The face was covered by a large black spot, with the only recognizable part being a mouth. The arms were a bunch of long stems of the flowers, making them look like a bunch of tentacles, and the lower body was similar, except that the green stems were covering a nearby area, as if they were creating a surface that would optimize the movements of the creature. Even the equivalent of its hair were made of the same substance.

“What is that thing?!” Yumbra asked slightly distressed.

“We found a similar one down at the 50^th Floor.” Finn calmly explained.

“Ah, yes. You mentioned it.” Dardanus remembered. “Any suggestion?”

“We take it down with all our might.”

“Sounds good. I’ll make sure the line holds while you take it out.”

“Leave it to us, sir.”

W hile Finn and Riveria rushed to gather their party, Dardanus reached the line of guards and adventurers that were trying to repel another assault of the flowers. Meanwhile, the huge monster was clearly starting to chase Ais’ magic, leaving its grunts on their own.

The weapons of the guards were clearly more effective, but their limited number was making it difficult to hold on. The normal adventurers needed a boost, and that was exactly what Dardanus intended to provide.

Finding a position where he was equally distant from all sides of the arched line, he rose his bardiche and professed:

“Heed my voice, o paladins! You’re the wall against evil! Stand your ground!”

Then, with a swift motion of his arm, he bashed the knob at the bottom on the ground. A golden light started to expand and created a circle that reached the whole formation. The Guards in particular were bathed in it, while the other adventurers were illuminated in various degrees, and only a small fraction of them was not.

Bastion of Light

The first and most renowned of Dardanus’ Skills. It temporarily increased Strength, Endurance and Dexterity from a single rank up to S rank altogether . The effect varied based on the faith that the receiver had in its caster. It also created a layer of magic defenses with the same parameter .

T hat was the reason why the members of the Guards were the ones that received the greatest boost : they all trusted the Executor, their former Captain, with their lives. The rogue adventurers, while not fond of the authority, knew Dardanus enough to feel invigorated, knowing that they had him on their side.

I t was a Skill aimed at preserving the lives of his underlings and to make the enemy waste its energies against a formation so solid that became almost impenetrable as long as the effect lasted.

Indeed, with their morale at an all-time-high and the abrupt rank-u p , the line became a wall of deadly spikes that mowed down the grand majority of the monsters in little more than a minute. And as more of those fell, the humans gained momentum and counterattacked.

I n just two minutes, they had wiped out the flowers.

D ardanus then noticed that the Lokis were about to destroy the large monster in the same span of time.

However, among them, he noticed the absence of Ais. Then Finn and Riveria rushed somewhere behind a rocky hill that oversaw the city and he rushed to see the problem. As he looked on the other side, he spotted them fighting with the red-haired tamer, however Ais was knocked on the ground, clearly having been slammed where she was.

Dardanus promptly jumped down and went to her, seeing that the pallum and the elf were easily pushing back the enemy.

“Ais!” the voice of Lefiya also broke into the scene.

“Treat her. I’ll cover you.” the Executor instructed.

“Yes, thank you!” the young forest fairy replied as she took a healing potion from her belt.

D ardanus assumed a defensive posture in front of the girls, though all he did was watch as Finn easily outmatched the tamer. However, he also noticed that she was able to recover from any wound at a ludicrous speed.

Whatever that person was, she had to be a hybrid of some sort.

E ventually, the tamer decided to run away.

And Ais suddenly rushed to the chase, despite her wounds, but the tamer disappeared after jumping into one of the lakes of the floor.

With nothing left to fight, the Guards and the Lokis gathered and prepared to return to the surface.

Two days later, Bell found himself waiting a t Armor Square. His Advisor, Eina, had agreed to let him go the 7 ^th Floor of the Dungeon on the condition that he procured himself some new armor set, and she had offered to accompany him.

B ell was so nervous that he had asked Alfia to watch him from afar at least until Eina showed up. Therefore, she was now sitting on a bench under the shadow of a few trees, dressed in a casual outfit and feigning to read a book while keeping her attention on her nephew’s aura.

T hey were a bit early, while Eina eventually showed up on time, sporting a white blouse, a red skirt and tights that no doubt all fit her perfectly, even the adult woman had to admit it.

And just as it could be expected, Bell immediately blushed, leaving an easy opening for Eina to tease him a little before they started heading toward Babel. Alfia thus figured that the half-girl was going to bring Bell to the shop of the novice smiths, where he was likely to find a good set of armor at a much affordable price.

With that settled, she headed for her own task that morning: discuss the situation with Dardanus and the heads of Loki, Hermes and Ouranos Familias.

She reached the Guild and the office of the Executor, where everyone was already waiting.

“Good morning, gentlemen.” she greeted.

“Alfia.” Riveria greeted first with a formally contrived tone. “Since we didn’t have the time, yet, let me renew our apologies for Bete’s behavior, the other day.”

“The only one who has to apologize to my nephew is that blabbering wolf, Riveria. I carry no grudge.” the woman replied cordially.

“Are we glad to hear that.” Finn said with a relieved smirk. “We wouldn’t like to invoke a feud at this critical moment.”

“Took you a while, Alfia. What were you doing?” Dardanus asked with a mixture of reprimand and curiosity.

“Sorry. I was just sending Bell out to the one task I can’t prepare him for.”

“What, pay the Familia tax?” Tebius joked.

“Worse. Going shopping alone with a cute girl.” Alfia replied amused.

“Ahahah. Yikes.” Gareth commented as everyone else got a chuckle out of all that.

“That’s nice, but let’s get back on topic.” the Executor concluded. “We need to discuss the events of the 18^th Floor.”

“Then allow me to start by thanking you for rescuing a member of my Familia.”

That voice was that of Asfi al Andromeda, the Captain of Hermes Familia. A woman with short, aqua hair and cyan eyes. Alias, Perseus, and the most renowned creator of magical items in all of Orario.

“We only did our duty, Asfi.” Dardanus replied calmly. “But tell me: how much did you actually know about Hasharna’s mission?”

“Not really much. Lord Hermes figured that it was linked to what Loki Familia found on the 50^th Floor, though that seems like old news.”

“I’m more interested in understanding what you found in that sphere.” Alfia intervened. “You said it reacted to magic?”

“It reacted to Ais’ magic, to be specific.” Dardanus recalled. “But I can’t say if it would have acted the same way should anyone else use their own next to it. What we know, is that it managed to transform several of those plants into a giant monster. That’s more than your usual transmutation.”

“Didn’t Lord Hermes also say that we might be dealing with a Spirit?” Lygas asked. “Could that sort of fetus have been...a new one?”

“No, Spirits do not reproduce like that.” Riveria said calmly. “However, we cannot rule out the possibility that whoever is behind this plot is trying to experiment a way to do so.”

“The events at Monsterphilia are also a source of concern.” Finn intervened. “Leaving aside the monsters that had been freed from their cages, how did someone get those plants to the surface? I’m sure that any traffic inside and outside the Dungeon were heavily guarded during all the period leading up to the festival.”

“Damn right, it was.” Mirne replied. “We searched every single pouch and backpack for two weeks. And from what we saw, those plants do not grow from small seeds. We would’ve noticed if someone tried to bring them outside of the Dungeon.”

“It would help to actually know who planted them. Otherwise, we’ll keep running in circles.” Gareth observed.

“Unfortunately, we have no lead on that front.” Yumbra noted a bit annoyed. “Whoever did so was damn quick to set the plants and leave in the midst of the chaos.”

“Could these monsters have been bred outside of Orario and smuggled here?” Tebius dared, though he found the idea lackluster himself.

“If that’s one thing I’m sure about, is that it’s impossible.” Dardanus replied. “It’s a completely new species, and there is no other place in the world that has a knowledge of monsters as deep as here in Orario. We don’t know of anyone capable of creating a new monster from zero.”

“Precisely.” Asfi agreed. “If we are dealing with some sort of...corrupted Spirit...then that’s the only source we can think about for new monsters to emerge.”

“So how did they get those plants to the surface?” Mirne asked.

An ominous silence fell among the group. Even if everyone started to reach the same conclusion, nobody wanted to actually spell it out. The duty eventually fell on the Executor.

“There has to be another access to the Dungeon that we are not aware of.”

No one tried to counter it. After taking in all the possibilities, that was the only conclusion left.

For sure, it was a terrifying prospect.

“Which is why, it’s imperative that we work in synergy, now more than ever.” the Executor then added to regain everyone’s attention, then stood up from his chair. “Finn, I want you and your Familia to carry on the preparations for the next expedition. The deeper you go, the better chances we have of finding the enemy. As soon as Zald returns, feel free to use us to train your men.”

“You can count on us.” the pallum replied with his collected determination.

“In the meantime, Asfi, you and your people keep searching for any trace of the enemy. Keep an eye out for any abnormal activity in the Dungeon.”

“Consider it done.” the woman replied promptly.

“Lygas, send scouts to look around Daedalus. If there is to be a secret entrance, I really can’t think of any other place.”

“Yes, Lord Dardanus.” the elf said with a loyal tone.

“Gentlemen, I won’t lie to you: we have a rapidly developing crisis on our hands. We still can’t determine the severity, but after the recent events, I’m sure you’ll all convene that the potential is already enough to shake the whole Orario.” the Executor finally admonished. “Of course, I will give everything I have to stop it. I look forward to your cooperation on this matter.”

Nobody said a word, but they all nodded firmly.

After getting himself a nice set of armor, with even a vanguard brace gifted by Eina, Bell was nonetheless stuck with another problem: he needed a Supporter if he wanted to reach the 7^th Floor. Eina and Alfia had been very clear about that, and so was his last dive.

He couldn’t keep going on his own unless he stuffed his small backpack with food and potions, which would also be barely enough to sustain him for both the way in and out, and it would prevent him from collecting magic stones.

After leaving the new armor at home, he went for a stroll. He had, after all, another meeting with Alfia and Dardanus at the pub, that evening.

He was walking casually down a small set of stairs when someone suddenly bumped into him and fell on the floor. He quickly noticed that it was a pallum female.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked worried.

The little demi-human struggled to even reply. She seemed tired and exhausted and couldn’t seemingly stand back on her own.

“You are not gonna run from me any longer!” a voice suddenly broke from behind.

Bell thus saw a furious adventurer running toward the pallum with his sword ready to strike.

Instinctively, Bell unsheathed his knife and intercepted the blade, blocking it on it path. The adventurer looked at him and then retracted his blade.

“Who the hell are you? Are you with her?” he asked furious.

“I never saw her.” Bell calmly replied.

“Then why are you butting in?!”

“You think I can stand and watch while you hack someone in the middle of the street?!” the young man replied firmly. “Put away that sword and let’s talk like civilized people.”

The adventurer clicked his tongue. “Don’t you dare shitting me!” he yelled as he prepared to deliver another blow.

“Stop it!” a voice intimated from the stairs.

They both turned their heads and Bell recognized Ryu Lion, a blonde elf working as one of the waitresses at the Hostess of Fertility. In fact, she was wearing the uniform and was holding a bag of groceries, likely for the opening of the pub.

“I warmly suggest you follow Mr. Cranel’s advice.” she then intimated with a calm and threatening tone to the hotheaded swordsman.

“Don’t you get your nose in this!” the man aggressively replied. “Get out of here, you damn…”

“Silence!” Ryu intimated and Bell had the feeling of seeing her eyes glowing a little bit. For sure, neither of the men dared to interrupt her. “I wouldn’t like to resort to violence. Every time I end up overdoing.” she added coldly.

Hissing in frustration, the adventurer turned around swearing and left, leaving Bell to sigh of relief.

“Thanks for the help, Miss Ryu.” he said gratefully.

“Don’t mention it. I apologize for stepping in.”

“Speaking of which, that girl…”

Bell turned around, but found no one. He concluded that she had likely left while her chaser was being held off.

“Are you heading to the pub?” he then asked.

“Ah, yes.” the elf replied.

“Then mind if I follow you? I have a meeting with auntie and uncle there, anyway.” he said amicably, as usual.

“Oh, sure. Syr will be happy to see you.” Ryu said cordially.

They arrived when the pub was just adjusting for the evening shift, the one when mostly adventurers came in to eat and drink, and was mostly empty.

“Oh, it’s white-hair, nyah!” Chloe greeted. “Mew’re quite early.”

“I met Ryu along the way and I have to meet my auntie and uncle anyway, so here I am.”

“Good, nyah. To celebrate, we’ll give you a discount on your first glass...of water.”

Bell chuckled nervously.

Nonetheless, he took his table and he had to wait a little less than an hour before Alfia was the first to show up.

“How did the shopping go?” she asked cheerfully.

“I had to spend almost everything I had, but I’m sure the armor I found is worth it.” the boy answered with optimism. “Now I guess I only have to look for a Supporter.”

“Remember that your Advisor can find an independent one, if you need.” his aunt reminded.

“I’ll look into that. By the way, I thought uncle would be with you.”

“Oh, the Guild is giving him a hard time because there is still no answer to what happened during the Monsterphilia. But he’ll be here any moment.” Alfia replied to reassure him.

They were then approached by Ryu, who had come to see if Alfia wanted anything.

“Lady Alfia. Thank you for choosing us again.” the elf said politely.

“Hi, Ryu.” Alfia replied with a gentle tone. For a moment, Bell thought that it had something particular. “How are you doing?” she asked right after that.

“I’m quite happy, here.” the elf replied in tone.

“I know you’re probably tired to hear this. But, if you ever want to talk...my door is always open for you.”

Ryu made a nostalgic chuckle and then looked at Bell as she said her next phrase. “Now I see why you behave like a mother.”

“I see.” Alfia simply said, not chasing whatever matter was at hand further. “While we wait, I will have a glass of red wine, if you please.”

“Right away.” the elf said and left for the kitchen.

O nce they were alone, Bell asked curious: “Do you know Ryu well, auntie?”

Alfia sighed softly. In a way that sounded almost regretful. “You could say that. Until five years ago, Ryu was an adventurer.”

Bell’s jaw fell. “What?! Seriously.”

“Yes.” Alfia continued. “She was part of Astrea Familia. They were a band of all-female adventurers that had formed just before the Great Feud and immediately allied with Guard to help us fight the wave of crime that plagued the city at the time. I saw great potential in them, so...I took the duty of training them personally.”

Bell listened with an astonished look. “You...never told me that.”

Alfia lowered her head. “They fought bravely during the Great Feud. We repelled some of the worst creatures Evilus threw at us thanks to them. But...a year after that, they were involved in the Nightmare of the 27 ^th Floor.”

Bell gasped in terror.

“The whole Astrea Familia was among the victims...except for Ryu.” Alfia murmured. “Goes to show how good of a teacher I am, uh?”

Bell didn’t know how to answer to that.

“When I heard of their fate...let’s just say something changed in me. I guess I made the error of getting too attached to my students. I decided to step down from my position as Executive of the Guard and act as an informal Advisor. But...it was around that time, when I was sinking into depression, that Dardanus convinced me to come and visit you for the first time since I saw you coming to this world.” she added with a flicker of hope at the end of the story.

“Auntie…” Bell whispered, unsure of what to say.

T hey then heard the door of the saloon twist open and spotted Dardanus coming in. He quickly spotted and waved them before approaching.

“Enough sad talk, now.” Alfia said, regaining some tranquility. “Let’s enjoy the evening.”

“You’re right.” Bell said warmly. “Hi, Uncle.”

“Hey, champ!” the Executor greeted and extended a hand to rub Bell’s hair. “Did you find anything useful on your shopping spree?”

“Yes, a new light armor. Also...well, miss Eina was so kind as to buy me a vambrace cover.”

“Oh...she’s bold.” Dardanus joked.

“What is this, mister Bell? Receiving gifts from other girls?”

The voice of Syr broke all of a sudden as she delivered the glass of wine, and despite her sweet smile, there was like an ominous shadow over her eyes.

“Agh!...S-Syr.” Bell jumped.

“Just kidding.” she said after keeping him on his toes for a few seconds and returning to her usual radiant self. “Greetings, Lord Dardanus. Would you like to consult the menu?”

“Just bring me a beer and three specialties of the day. I feel like spending a little.” Dardanus replied with composure and a polite smile that made him seem less unapproachable than one would think of such an important and powerful man.

“Thank you for your patronage.” Syr replied in a most high-pitched happiness.

A fter a plentiful dinner and a good night rest, the following morning Bell put up his new set of armor with a certain excitement and, after saying to goodbye to a half-asleep Hestia, went off to the Dungeon, but not before stopping at the Hostess to get the packed lunch Syr always prepared for him. He then headed to the entrance of Babel. Despite being so early in the morning, there were already several adventurers rolling in, and, Bell noticed, many Supporters.

However, they were all following somebody. Just as he pondered on what to do, a cheerful voice came from behind.

“Sir! Sir! Yes, you with the white hair!”

Bell turned around and saw a short girl carrying a backpack twice her size as if it was nothing. She was smiling widely, but Bell was sure he had already seen her somewhere.

“Nice to meet ya, sir. I’m sorry for the bluntness, but wouldn’t you happen to be looking for a Supporter?” the girl kept advising.

“I...uh…are you...?” Bell mumbled as he tried to remember.

“Are you perhaps confused?” the pallum kept saying. “However, the current situation is quite simple. A poor Supporter wishing to pick up the crumbs of an Adventurer is just sponsoring herself.”

“No, I get it, but...aren’t you the pallum from yesterday?” Bell finally managed to ask.

“A pallum?” the girl replied with her cheery attitude. “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else, Sir.” she then removed her hood, showing a couple of dog-like ears. “I’m a chientrope, see?”

“A chientrope?” Bell asked a little intrigued. “But even so...aren’t you quite...short, for a chientrope?”

T he girl pouted. “Mister, that’s not a nice thing to say.”

“Oh, ehm...sorry.” the boy awkwardly replied.

Still, he decided to give her a chance and so they sat on the edge of one of the fountains decorating the surroundings of Babel. She presented herself as Liliruca Arde, or Lili, for short. Yet, just as Bell was about to introduce himself, a surprised, warm voice called him.

“Bell?!”

They both turned and saw none other than Dardanus, accompanied by an elf with the uniform of the Guard, though for the moment Bell only cared about the former.

“Uncle Dardanus! Good morning.” he said happily and walked up to him.

Dardanus chuckled affectionately. “ Look at ya. Ready to conquer all the Upper Floors, uh?” and gave a gentle punch on the chest plate of the armor set.

“Don’t break it right away.” Bell joked.

Dardanus laughed. “If all it takes is an uncle’s rub, then go get a refund.” then he remembered that they were not alone. “Ah, Bell. This is Lygas Barzi, Captain of the Ouranos Familia and, therefore, current leader of the City Guard.”

Bell promptly made a bow. “Honored to make your acquaintance, sir.”

“A pleasure, young Cranel.” Lygas replied in a formal tone, then grinned. “I must say, I was curious to meet the one person that managed to make the Three Demons panic.”

R emembering how things played out on his first day as an adventurer, Bell made an embarrassed and nervous chuckle. “Sorry again, uncle.” he murmured.

Dardanus then spotted the short girl sitting next to the spot where Bell was, and noticed the giant backpack, as well. However, he also noticed how she had turned pale and seemed frightened, which flared his suspicion.

“Are you hiring a Supporter?” he asked, not showing anything.

“Ah, yes. She’s Lili. We were discussing a possible arrangement.” Bell said innocently.

“Ehm...Mister...are you perhaps…” Lili asked with a trembling voice. “The rumored nephew of Lady Alfia?”

B ell rubbed his neck timidly. “ Ah, you heard that…”

W hile the boy may not notice or just misinterpret that terror on her face, Dardanus did know what it meant. He gave another look at Bell’s outfit and noticed something critical.

“Bell, are you sure you want to keep the knife here?” he said calmly.

“Uh?” the boy, who had turned around, asked.

With a swift movement, Dardanus just grabbed the Hestia Knife and brought it in front of the boy, who jumped in surprised terror.

“Keeping it on your lower back is not exactly the best idea. A simple pickpocket would have an easy time when the street becomes particularly crowded.” he explained as he handed the weapon back to his owner.

“Oh...ah...I see…”

“Trust me.” the Dardanus said just like any parent giving advice. “Keep it in front...maybe under here.” he said, pointing the green vambrace defender. “It will also makes the drawing quicker.”

“I see. Thanks, uncle.” Bell said innocently.

Dardanus noticed with the tail of his eye that Lili now looked extremely discouraged.

Still, he didn’t want to get all of Bell’s problem sorted out for the kid. He would have to notice for himself.

“Okay, we really need to go, now.” he concluded, as they were awaited in Daedalus Street.

“Have a nice day.” Bell wished sincerely before going back to Lili.

Chapter Text

The first day with a Supporter had been very productive, but the morning after, Bell was out very early for something else entirely. He, Dardanus, and Alfia gathered at the south-western gate of Orario, and after half an hour of walking, they reached the port town of Melen, Orario’s sea access.

The sun was just starting to shine brightly when a sturdy armed ship entered the port. Already, the three smirked, and Bell was particularly excited. And as soon as the boat was close enough to distinguish the people on the deck, the tall figure of Zald, clad in his dark armor that stood evidently against the light of day, could be easily spotted.

Even the seasoned adventurer was so impatient that he didn’t even wait for the ship to be docked appropriately. As soon as he could, he jumped out onto the pier.

“Uncle Zald!” the boy greeted loudly and ran.

“Bell! Come here, champ!” the tall man said with the same energy, widening his arms to receive him on the fly.

“My goodness, I leave you ten days and look at you!” he pronounced with a smile that made even his scars look innocent.

Zald had a serious attitude, in general. Even if he let his emotions show enough that people remembered that he was a human being, he turned into a completely different person when he was in front of the boy he had seen grow up.

It might have been Bell’s natural charm or a dormant fatherly instinct, but in those moments, few would have considered Zald one befitting the title of ‘Demon’ as he laughed and joked with the most innocent face.

After pampering his foster nephew enough, Zald finally greeted his lifelong friends, too. Dardanus dismissed the Guard squad that had accompanied Zald to Nineveh, as they joked that they had done nothing but steer the ship and watch as he single-handedly beat down three armies and forced them to surrender.

After another walk back to Orario, they stopped at a bar to have breakfast, since Bell had to be in front of the Dungeon’s entrance before midday.

“Are you seriously already exploring the 7^th Floor?” Zald asked, impressed and proud.

“Well, it wouldn’t be possible without Lili’s help.” Bell said humbly as he consumed a fried egg.

“I have to ask, though, why is she coming with you?” Alfia asked. “She is part of a Familia, is she not?”

She had brought that question up at Dardanus’ request after what he had seen the day before.

For a moment, Bell stopped and seemingly pondered on an answer, but the three of them could all see that there was something in his eyes. A feeling that they could not exactly describe. They could only perceive some naivete.

“From what I understand, Lili’s Familia isn’t very active. She is trying to save some money with a side job. That’s why she approached me.”

“And the fact that you are related to us doesn’t scare her?” Dardanus asked, feigning a simply curious tone.

“At first, a bit.” Bell replied with his usual innocence. “But she’s opening up...but you don’t trust her, right?”

He asked that question with absolute calm, and it surprised the three adults. Bell was never good at reading emotions plainly shown on the faces of others; he was certainly completely oblivious to the unspoken.

Dardanus made a faint nod, closing his eyes as if to acknowledge that his godson was growing even under that aspect.

“Bell, do you know what the average life of a Supporter is?”

Bell conceded to his ignorance and simply shook his head.

“You probably saw our Supporters in the Guard and got the wrong idea: as an army, we know the value of logistics and the people that ensure everything operates smoothly. We know that Supporters are the blood of any good party, and we respect them.

“However, for most adventurers, that is simply not the case. In all my years as Executor, I lost count of how many cases of abuse against Supporters I had to solve.”

“Abuses?” Bell asked, already showing a bit of shock that proved how little he knew about the real world.

“Yes. Supporters are considered the weak link in most parties, fit only to be pack mules. They are usually given a miserable share of the earnings, if anything at all, and it’s not uncommon to hear of them being used as bait for monsters when things get south.”

Bell made a faint gasp and a horrified face.

“In return, some Supporters try to get back however they can. By luring adventurers into monster nests and then running away with the whole loot.” Alfia added. “What we want to tell you is: before you decide whether you can trust this Lili, make sure you observe her, and try to understand her real situation.”

“I’ll be careful, Auntie. However, if I have any real impression about Lili, it's...well...that she’s all alone. And...that she feels abandoned.”

“How can you tell?” Zald asked.

“It’s just...a feeling.” Bell replied innocently.

After a brief silence, the boy stood up. “Speaking of which, I should go.”

“Be careful, Bell. Also, the bill is on us. Don’t you even dare to try and pay.” Dardanus said nonchalantly.

Bell chuckled and bid them farewell, promising to see them in the evening.

“It’s hard to believe he’s grown so much in just a few days.” Zald commented.

“Well, it’s not a surprise, given his Skill.” Alfia said.

“Yes, but I mean, he’s learning the job of adventurer, and yet it seems like he can still retain his honesty.”

“We’ll have to wait and see before judging on that.” Dardanus calmly noted. “But I will admit that he’s off to a good start, all things considered. I’m counting on you to keep his training up.”

“Leave it to us.”Alfia reassured. “But what about the plot? Any news on that front?”

“Fels is investigating with our...allies...down there. He did find out that until recently, there has been an anomalous rampage of monsters on the 30^th Floor, where Hasharna had recovered that jewel.”

“What kind of rampage?” Zald asked.

“There seemed to be a much larger number of monsters than usual. Unfortunately, we can’t ask Hasharna what he saw. We will have to figure this out ourselves.”

Alfia hummed in thought before forwarding her hypothesis. “The 30 ^th Floor...is one of those that has pantries. Could it be that the enemy is interfering with those?”

The two men pondered and found themselves in agreement overall, but without solid proof or more clues, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what the enemy's plans were.

“It’s true that those flower monsters would need nutrients, especially given how many there could be at once. Let’s leave the intel gathering to Fels and the Hermes Familia for now. But when the time comes, I intend to go down there. Are you guys in?”

“No need to ask.” Zald reassured. “I was missing a good challenge.”

“Do you think we should assist the Loki expedition?” Alfia then asked. “If a Spirit is waiting at the 59^th Floor or below, it might be too much for them to handle.”

“I think you’re underestimating them. But this is about destroying Orario and letting the monsters run amok on the surface once again.” Dardanus responded. “We can’t just stand aside. If anything…” he then turned toward the door where Bell had left shortly before. “To make sure he has the room to grow.”

His friends nodded in agreement.

“For now, let’s focus on training him. Zald, I did my best, but he needs someone to teach him how to use his weapon best.” Alfia said.

“Leave that to me. How is he doing?”

“He learns at a pace...how should I put it?...immoderate, perhaps.”

“Remember that we also promised to help the Loki Familia train in the arena before the expedition.” Dardanus reminded. “Alfia, I hope you got past your grudge.”

“I will be past it once I know that blabbering wolf has apologized to Bell.” she replied sternly.

Zald looked confused. “Did I miss something?”

Dardanus chuckled. “Well, you see...”

It had been almost a week since the incident on the 18^th Floor. Fels had confirmed that the enemy had been exploiting the pantry on the 30^th Floor and was now investigating whether other sources of nourishment were being used to improve the new monsters.

For the moment, Dardanus had put the Guard on high alert and ordered to prepare a possible expedition to the Intermediate Floors, which, however, limited the manpower for the search of the hidden access in Daedalus Street.

Then, the news came: on the 24 ^th Floor, home to three different pantries, there had been a surge of monster parades, and several adventurers had been killed. Lygas immediately sent down a cordon of troops to seal off any access to the floor, issuing an interdiction order through the Guild.

While the Guard assembled the men and items necessary to lead an extermination, the Three Demons all decided to try to visit Bell one afternoon. They had known that his Supporter was absent that day and had taken a day off.

“I still don’t like that he’s living in a place as abandoned as this one.” Zald commented. He had, of course, visited in the previous days, and he had already started training Bell in actual blade fighting, since Alfia had mostly trained his agility and dodging capacity.

“Give him some time. Sooner or later, he’ll earn enough to buy a decent house.” Alfia said confidently.

They entered the chapel and descended the stairs to the old crypt.

Only to find Bell sitting on a short stool, his upper body bent entirely forward, and his arms slumped on the floor. He seemed to be sleeping.

“Bell?!” Alfia asked, very confused. She knelt and shook him.

The boy tiredly opened his eyes and groaned as he pulled himself up.

“Auntie…? Uncles?” he asked once he could make sense of the scene.

“Hey, kid. What were you tired of? It’s barely afternoon.” Zald asked.

“I...uh. Sorry. I was reading that book and...well, I must’ve fallen asleep.”

He had pointed to a book lying on the floor on his left, at the bottom of the sofa. They turned around, however, Alfia grabbed it with particular haste, almost alarmed. She immediately opened it and realized that all the pages were blank. Unable to make sense of the situation, she turned and asked:

“Bell. Where did you get this?”

All the men were surprised by the tone of her demand. Zald and Dardanus were starting to realize the truth when Bell replied.

“Oh, Syr said that someone had forgotten it at the pub and that I could read it to kill some time.”

Alfia kept turning the blank pages, hoping that this was all a dream, but when the name Syr was mentioned, things started to make sense. She sighed and then patiently explained the harsh truth to her nephew.

“Bell...this is a grimoire.”

“A...grimoire? What is it?”

“It’s a book that allows the reader to learn a magic spell instantly.” she said. “It draws out a magic that someone is predisposed for.”

Bell was left petrified. “M...m...m…” After a few more consonants, he managed to ask: “Magic?!”

“Yes. Alfia never needed them,” Zald explained. “But even in our old Familia, we used them to speed up the growing of the most promising mages.”

“Yes, but what matters is…” Alfia said carefully before turning the open, blank book toward her nephew. “That a grimoire loses its effect once it’s read.”

Bell grabbed the book with haste and frantically turned the pages over and over, but he quickly realized that there were no more words on them. As the realization kicked in, his face grew a shadow of panic, while his eyes and mouth warped into a maniacal smile.

Then, all of a sudden, he yelled and ran toward the threshold. He first tried to reach his shoes so fast that he bumped into the wall with his nose.

“Woah, where do you think you’re going?” Dardanus urged, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I need to apologize and compensate for…”

“That’s impossible.” Alfia staunchly said. “Bell, there isn’t a single grimoire that doesn’t cost less than some million valis.”

Bell reasoned. One could almost see suspension dots over his head. Once that information had entered his head, he became whiter than a glacier. He was so frozen in disbelief that even the adults felt some cold.

Still, knowing him full well, Dardanus sighed and calmly said. “Come with me. We’re going to the pub together.”

With Bell probably on the verge of losing a blood vessel for the sheer stress, he dressed up and they headed back to the Hostess of Fertility , where Bell explained everything and apologized from the bottom of his heart.

Mia was running through the pages while Syr, with a hand in front of her mouth, talked as if she had embarrassed herself.

“Sir Bell, you did something terrible.”

“You speak as if you didn’t give it to me!” Bell said desperately.

“Oh, I shouldn’t?” Syr replied while keeping the facade of the blushing maiden.

“You’re cute...but no.” Bell replied, still feeling overwhelmed by the shame.

“Mia, let’s make this quick, please.” Dardanus said with a tone that clearly showed he was about to make his job while knowing the answers already. “Can you confirm that you found this grimoire lying around the pub?”

“Yes. It popped out yesterday evening, while the girls were cleaning.” the dwarf woman replied.

“And nobody came to reclaim it until this hour?”

“Not a soul.”

“Thank you. Come on, Bell. On to the Guild.”

Confused, but not in the mood to question anymore, he followed his godfather to the Pantheon, home of the Guild and the Ouranos Familia. There, Dardanus brought him to the counter in front of Eina.

“Oh, Executor...Bell. Good morning.” she said with the smiling attitude required from

“Has anyone denounced the loss of a grimoire since yesterday evening?” the Executor asked the clerk.

“No, sir. No denounce of missing items whatsoever.” he replied after scouring through.

Dardanus thanked and brought Bell out. “That’s it, Bell. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“Are you...sure?” Bell asked, still feeling that something was wrong.

“The law clearly states that, unless its disappearance is promptly denounced, the loss of a grimoire and its subsequent use by another person is the complete responsibility of the owner. Whoever left it at the pub clearly didn’t care, since he didn’t come back to recover it for the whole day.”

Of course, Dardanus immediately understood this was not a case. But for the sake of simplicity, he couldn’t give Bell the whole picture.

“Let’s go back to your home and wait for your Goddess to return so we can take a look at your new Status.” he finally invited. With resignation all over his face, Bell followed.

A few hours later, Hestia returned and was informed of the recent events. Understanding that there was no time to lose, she had Bell lie on his belly on the bed and started updating his Status. Aside from seeing that all his Abilities were ranking B or C already, now there was a brand-new, spanking Magic section, reporting a single word.

Firebolt

All that was written was a brief description: Fire attack coming out from the palms of the hands.

Alfia read it and found it even more shocking than the grimoire.

“I can’t believe this…” she whispered.

“What?! What is it?!” Bell asked quite impatiently. After the sense of shame had subsided, he was now itching to find out that he could use magic, and was quivering like a baby waiting for his gifts on Winter Festival.

Alfia turned the sheet toward him and explained: “This is a no-chant magic.”

All jaws in the room dropped in different measures.

“All you have to do is name the spell, and it will activate.”

“What, just Firebo-?”

Promptly enough, Hestia jumped to shut his mouth with a hand. “You can’t activate it inside the house!” she reprimanded immediately.

“Sorry.” he said once his mouth was freed. “But...just a word is enough? Aren’t your spells the same, auntie?”

“Well...yes. But I’m a unique case.” she said quite proudly.

“Like aunt, like nephew.” Zald joked before Alfia started gathering magical power on the tip of her finger. “Wait! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

The woman stopped the gathering, and Dardanus took the chance to speak up. “Anyway, this is perfect for your combat style, which is focused on speed. Now all that is left to do is to test this new magic tomorrow in the Dungeon.”

“Uh...right! Tomorrow...yep!” Bell replied bumbling.

Soon enough, Alfia sighed. “Fine. We’ll go right after dinner.” she said tiredly.

Bell’s face lit up, and with the same disarming smile, he jumped to hug her. “I love you, auntie.”

The woman lightly blushed as she said: “You would do that anyway, wouldn’t you?”

“Speaking of dinner, I’ll go to the grocery store. It’s been too long since I cooked something.” Zald said lightheartedly.

Dardanus chuckled. “And I’ve missed your cuisine. Surprise us!”

Aside from being one of the Three Demons, Zald was renowned as an incredibly skilled cook. It wasn’t by chance that one of his skills, Deus Ambrosia, was activated when he even ate the flesh of monsters. Despite that, when it came to actual meals, he was picky and capable of turning even poor ingredients into something otherworldly delicious.

After Zald showed his unparalleled prowess with the hobs again, it was time for Alfia and Bell to enter the Dungeon. Bell was so excited that he almost left without putting on his armor before his aunt grabbed him by the ear.

Now they found themselves at the beginning of the 1 ^st Floor.

“Remember: the number of times you can use Magic is limited to the amount of Mind. Since we don’t know how much you can handle, start with baby steps and let’s see how far you can get.” Alfia instructed.

“Aye!” Bell replied full of energy.

Soon enough, the first goblins appeared.

“Aim your palm and pronounce the name of the spell.”

Bell extended his left hand and pointed it toward the screaming creature, preparing to attack. Then, after he was sure he had said the word correctly, he said it.

“Firebolt!”

A dart of flame quickly developed on his palm and then flew toward the goblin, easily turning it into ashes.

“Not bad. All right, let’s start with…” the mage started, only to be spooked by the sudden reaction of the boy.

“Yeeaaaaahhhh!!! I did it!”

“Bell?!”

The boy was not listening anymore. He sprinted forward and started using Firebolt on every monster he saw.

Alfia covered her face with a hand and sighed. However, she decided that making him go through a Mind Down would be a good lesson. She decided to follow him and see how far he could go.

Still, as they ran through floor after floor, even if he wasn’t blasting every single monster, Alfia was shocked to see her nephew cast no more than 40 times, reaching the 6 ^th Floor before he finally passed out on the floor.

“Goodness…” Alfia whispered with a smirk. “You truly are something else.”

She resigned herself to sitting on a small rock and waiting until he recovered. However, merely five minutes later, she heard the sound of footsteps on the access stairs to the 7^th Floor. Given that it was night outside, she figured there were some adventurers running late.

She certainly wasn’t expecting to see none other than…

“Riveria? Ais?” she asked incredulously.

“Alfia?” Riveria asked, no less surprised.

Ais didn’t say anything, but her face clearly indicated she shared the sentiment of the two mages.

But as the two Lokis saw the young boy on the ground and her, Riveria quickly figured out his identity. “Is this...your nephew?”

“Yup.” Alfia said.

“Is he…?”

“Suffering a Mind Down.”

The two women were stunned. Before they could ask another question, Alfia anticipated them and explained, “I’ll spare you the details, but he ended up reading a grimoire today.”

“How do you...end up, reading a Grimoire?” Riveria asked, confused.

“Sorry, can’t tell ya. What about you guys? I heard your Familia had a party today, but I thought you were all out.”

“Well…” Ais said timidly.

After a brief explanation, Alfia was positively impressed. “You defeated Udaeus all on your own?! Wow, that’s amazing, Ais. Congratulations!” she said with genuine happiness. “Now, your Level 6 is certainly waiting to be updated into existence!”

“Th...Thank you.” the girl timidly replied, blushing with her neutral face.

However, the two adult women noticed that her gaze was mainly fixed on Bell.

“What’s wrong, Ais?” Riveria asked.

Suddenly, the feared Sword Princess curled up a little and rubbed her thumbs together. “Riveria...I...haven’t apologized to him, yet...I...want to make up...somehow.”

The two mages looked at her in shock first, then consulted each other with their eyes. Riveria approached her colleague and former teacher.

“Ais never showed interest in someone else.” she whispered with a serious tone. “She’s not just focusing on becoming stronger...”

“I know, right?” Alfia agreed. “But...if she is so eager, I might have a suggestion.” she added with a smile that was certainly pure, but it had something devilish, one that reminded Riveria of her patron Goddess. Still, the High Elf stepped aside and allowed Alfia to speak with Ais.

“Ais, dearest, while I don’t think you have much to apologize for, if you truly wish to make amends to him, there is only one thing you can do.”

“I...I’ll do anything!” Ais said with a determination that didn’t match her lovingly timid face.

“Trust me. As his aunt, I don’t say this lightly. Right now, he would only deserve a slap on his neck for putting himself into this situation. However...if you want to make up for him...then give him a lap pillow until he wakes up.”

Ais was completely and sincerely puzzled. “Lap...pillow?”

Alfia nodded confidently. “There is no boy in Orario who wouldn’t like receiving one from you.”

Confused, Ais looked at Riveria, who also nodded with the most solemn face.

“Let me show you.” Alfia offered. She told Ais to sit on the ground next to Bell’s head with her legs bent backward, then gently put the boy’s head onto the girl’s thighs.

Ais didn’t oppose, but she certainly seemed still weirded out.

“Are you...sure this is enough?” she asked.

“Absolutely. Now, since you’re with him, I’ll take this chance and catch some sleep. Bye, bye.” she waved and quickly walked away.

“I’ll go forward, too, Ais.” Riveria said to take her leave.

Leaving the teens where they were, the two mages walked out together, sharing a few comments.

“So that is the kid that changed the ‘Monster of Talent’” Riveria said with a smile.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Alfia feigned, but sporting the same expression as the elf.

“You didn’t have ‘Monster’ in your old nickname for nothing. You were merciless and strict with anybody in the years up to the Great Feud.”

“Oh, are you saying that I am not anymore?”

“Not at all. But you started to soften with the girls of Astraea Familia, and ever since you began your regular retirements outside the city, you have become more approachable. I dare say more understanding. Instead of just beating the other adventurers, you started to guide them to strengthen them. I suppose it was the influence of that kid.”

Alfia made an amused sigh. “It’s that obvious, uh?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but being a mother really suits you.” Riveria joked.

“Well, if ‘Mama Riveria’ says so…” the human quipped back.

“Who is the Mom?” the elf feigned.

“I guess your perspective on the world changes when there is someone you wish to protect and nurture with all your strength.” Alfia said in a more tranquil and thoughtful tone.

“Yes. Yes, it does.”

The next morning, Alfia didn’t manage to meet Bell, and she didn’t have the time to look for him, because Dardanus summoned her and Zald in front of Babel: the force heading for the 24^th Floor was ready. It was made up of 300 Guards, 120 Supporters, and besides the Lieutenants, the one in charge of them was Mirne. The Three Demons were there to provide additional support, but as per their policy, they would not be the ones issuing orders.

While Mirne shouted the briefing, Dardanus suddenly felt his cape gently pulled from behind. He turned around and was surprised to see Eina Tulle.

“Tulle. What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

“I’m truly sorry to take your time, Executor. But...well...it’s about Bell. You asked me to report anything regarding him.”

“Sure. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“You’re too gentle. Anyways, I’m still investigating, but I found out that the Supporter he has hired comes from Soma Familia.”

Dardanus hummed in understanding. Now, Alfia and Zald were also listening.

“Sir. I shouldn’t be asking you this. But, given your closeness to him, wouldn’t you please try to help me convince him to separate himself from that Supporter? I fear that, soon enough, he will be tricked into a dangerous situation.”

They already knew all of that. In fact, they had discussed this with the same Bell and with Hestia supporting them. Since Bell had started going around with that Supporter, there had been a few discrepancies, like the rewards registered at the Guild and the money that Bell brought back home, or the fact that he was spending way too much for some items that Lili was expected to replenish at the market.

They already knew that Lili was taking advantage of him, though they didn’t know her exact circumstances. And yet, when faced with all the proofs provided by his guardians, Bell had given a clear answer.

The three smiled, and Dardanus raised a hand in a reassuring gesture. “There is nothing to be afraid of, Tulle.”

“Eh?” Eina asked, baffled.

“You see...that boy is going to become a hero.” he said confidently.

Leaving Eina confused, the column and the Three started moving.

Their first destination was the 18^th Floor, which generally took some four hours of marching. However, the trick with the beginning of any significant movement of factions in the Dungeon is that the first levels are pretty trim and generally crowded with the lower-tier adventurers. Large expeditions needed to pass the first levels in different groups following a timetable to avoid clogging the routes.

Even Loki Familia’s expeditions generally had to be divided into two batches, and they moved with a little less than 100 people. This expedition counted more than 400!

The Guild couldn’t deny access to the Upper Floors unless there was a crisis, because Orario's economy relied mainly on the continuous mining of the Dungeon. Even the smaller magic stones were essential.

Considering all this, the Guard took two whole days to gather on the 18^th Floor, and from there, they could finally move together.

They also needed to wait for a party from Hermes Familia, which was scouting the 24^th Floor right then to give the main force as accurate a picture of the situation as possible.

While they waited in the camp established just outside the town of Rivira, Dardanus couldn’t help but praise how quickly the local adventurers had rebuilt that town, even if the city's architecture was so simple that it didn’t require much effort.

“How many times has that city been destroyed, by now?” he asked Zald and Alfia.

“I think it was 334, but I might have forgotten.” the woman replied.

“The inhabitants are persistent. One must credit them with at least this much.” Zald commented.

They were interrupted by a soldier alerting that Hermes Familia had arrived. They thus reached the command tent where Mirne and five Lieutenants, including Emedin and Cassius, were already hearing Asfi, who was in command of the scouting party.

“Captain Andromeda.” Dardanus greeted. “What news do you bring us?”

“Greetings, Executor. Our exploration has uncovered two major factors you must consider.”

“I’m listening.”

“First of all, we are not facing a sudden overflow in the creation of monsters on the 24^th Floor: the number of monsters is always the same; however, something is happening in the northern part. Do you have the map?”

One of the Lieutenants hastily grabbed and laid out the map of the 24^th Floor. Although the shape did not correspond, it could generally be seen as a triangle, for there were three pantries distributed at an approximately equal distance from one another, similar to a triangle. Asfi put her finger on the one on the north.

“Something is keeping the monsters away from this part of the floor. Therefore, they are all amassing near the other two to find more nourishment. The concentration is so great that it has misled us to believe there had been a surge in their generation, but it’s a matter of concentration of forces.”

“So we need to clear the northern part, and the monsters will start once again to be more evenly distributed?” Cassius asked.

“That’s my theory. However, we couldn’t hope to get past the large monster party and take a look there. So, I’m sorry, but we don’t have more accurate intel.” she apologized.

“You have already done enough, Asfi.” Zald reassured. “Knowing that we’re not facing an infinite spawning of monsters will already be a huge morale boost for the men.”

“That’s right. Get back to the surface. Lord Hermes will update you on your next task.” the Executor instructed.

“Good luck, sir.” the Captain of Hermes wished sincerely before taking her leave.

The officers left analyzed the map and pondered the attack plan.

“There is no debate: we must take the access at the south-eastern side.” Mirne established. “It will give us a single front to handle while we make our way to the pantry in the North. Cassius, I want you to secure the entrance and the pantry next to it. Emedin, you will secure the corridor between the south-eastern and northern pantries. Keep it open in case we have to retreat.”

“Aye, ma’am.” both replied promptly.

“My Lords, you will stay in the back and save your strength for the attack on the target,” the Executive kept instructing.

“You sure you don’t want our help?” Dardanus offered.

“Against simple monsters? Please, sir. I thought you trained us exactly for moments like this.” she replied proudly.

The Executor made a satisfied smirk. “That’s what I like to hear. Who else will participate in the final push?”

“The heavy company, I and Lieutenant Bayrun.” Mirne decreed, looking at the dwarf with heavy equipment participating in the meeting. Then she turned toward another Human. “Lieutenant Veda. Lady Alfia’s magic should be enough for the assault on the northern pantry, but keep your mage team nearby once we secure a corridor.”

“Yes, ma’am.” a human male replied.

“Good. We leave in an hour. Pass the orders down and get ready.” Mirne dismissed.

While the officers left, Mirne was left staring at the map with a grumble. Sensing her nervousness, Zald stepped forward. “What’s on your mind, Kyros?”

“Nothing, sir, it’s just...a feeling, if you will. I’m simply wondering what could possibly frighten all these monsters out of such a large area. Is it just those flower monsters, or is there something far worse in there?” she explained.

“If there’s someone who can handle unforeseen situations, that is you.” Zald stated firmly. “Just be ready for everything and draw up plans accordingly. You have not been chosen as Vice-Captain of the Guard for nothing. You did not reach Level 6 by luck. The important thing is that you stay calm, or your indecisiveness may spread to the rest of the army.”

“Don’t worry, Lord Zald. I know full well the weight of my role. In any case, I know I can count on your strength.”

“Of course.” Dardanus reassured.

A soldier then slipped through the folds of the command tent and stood at attention. “Pardon my intrusion, ma’am.”

“Speak, trooper.”

“Well...Ais Wallenstein from Loki Familia just showed up. She says she has just been hired through a quest to accompany us, so I brought her here. Do you want me to let her in?”

The four commanders were extremely surprised but quickly realized that Fels had probably pulled some strings.

“Yes, let her in.” Mirne confirmed.

The soldier nodded and left, and a few seconds later, Ais replaced him. She was already in her battle gear and seemed quite resolute to embark on this quest.

“The Sword Princess.” Mirne said with a bit of admiration. “I heard you were hired to come with us.”

“Yes.” she simply replied.

“Well, you’re very welcome. Another Level 5 will certainly increase our chances.”

“Actually…” Alfia intervened with grace. “Ais, you are a Level 6 now, right?”

Ais just nodded and made a positive huff.

Alfia smiled while the other three were stunned. “How did you know?” Zald asked, baffled.

“I’ll tell you later.” the mage replied, now with a professional tone. “Before that, Commander, it would be better to give Miss Wallenstein the full picture.”

“Uhm...sure.” Mirne said that after recovering from the surprise. She went on to provide Ais with the latest intelligence and the attack plan, and she assigned her immediately to the strike team. After saying that, the Vice-Captain of the Guard also added: “I’m surprised you came here alone. How would your Familia let you do such a thing?”

Ais turned a little embarrassed and, maybe, confused. “How to explain...actually, this morning I was asked to help an adventurer on the 10 ^th Floor...I was contacted there.”

“An adventurer?” Dardanus asked, confused.

Ais then seemingly remembered something significant and made a face accordingly as she stared at the mage. “Ah...Lady Alfia...I remember...a Guild advisor asked me to help Bell.”

“Bell?? On the 10^th Floor?” the woman asked, surprised but not shocked. “Help him with what?”

“Ehm…” the Sword Princess replied with a struggling face. “She said...he got himself into trouble...But I don’t know what…”

“I think we know.” the Executor calmly assessed. “Did you save him?”

“Yes...He was surrounded by orcs...but...he was doing quite well…” she said with a hint of what seemed like admiration. “Anyway...I opened him a path and he left...saying he needed to find someone...I don’t think he even saw it was me…”

“Well, that’s enough for us.” Zald said gratefully “Thank you, young Ais.”

“Good. Now that we have said anything...Ais, how about a little girls’ talk before we leave?” Alfia said with a friendly smile.

“S-...Sure.” Ais said, a little confused.

The two left the tent and found a spot relatively isolated from the crowd. Perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered much, because everybody was busy gathering weapons and equipment or forming the ranks in preparation for the departure to care about them. Nonetheless, Alfia wanted some privacy for what she asked.

“Say...how did it go the other day?” she asked, amused.

“The other…?” Ais asked at first, but then gasped at the remembrance, and her face suddenly turned to one of extreme depression.

Alarmed, Alfia asked. “Uh…? What happened?”

“He...he ran away...as soon as he woke up…” Ais said with the face of a depressed puppy.

Alfia became livid all of a sudden. “HE WHAT?!”

It came out so strong that nearby soldiers turned around, fearing that they were under attack, but as Alfia regained her composure, they realized she was talking about something unrelated, and everyone returned to work.

“I can’t believe this.” she hissed.

“The Advisor said he is not afraid of me...but...I still don’t know.” Ais added, still clearly beaten down.

Alfia stepped in firmly. “Hold on, Ais! First of all, I want to apologize on his behalf.”

“Eh…?”

“Bell is just extremely shy with girls. And you are a celebrity, so I guess he just felt overwhelmed.” the aunt kept explaining, choosing her words carefully so as not to reveal the real feelings of her nephew. “Still, what he did is extremely rude and he is in for it once we return! Still, let me reassure you that he does not hate you in the slightest!”

“Really?” the girl asked with a mixture of disbelief and hope.

“Really, really.” the adult replied without hesitation.

Ais kept her expression for a few seconds before suddenly blushing a little and saying with a relieved smile. “I see…” then she remembered something else and reached for one of her pouches. “That’s right...I think he lost this during the battle.”

She showed the green vambrace protection, and Alfia recognized it immediately.

“I would...like to return it myself…” Ais added timidly.

Unable to resist that level of cuteness, Alfia smiled and said promptly: “Of course. Once we get back to the surface, I’ll introduce you to him.”

“You...will?” Ais asked with hope.

“Of course. I have to make sure he doesn’t run again.” Alfia replied with a gentle smile.

Ais chuckled.

“All right. Let’s do our best so we can talk to him again.” Alfia encouraged.

“Yes.”

Less than an hour later, the Guard started the march to the 24^th Floor, leaving only a small garrison of Reservists to hold the camp at the safety point.

Chapter Text

Lili had certainly bowled everything out. Now, Bell was ready to get back to the surface with her. The pallum didn’t say anything on the way up, likely feeling unworthy of doing it. Even so, Bell didn’t stop smiling reassuringly at her whenever their eyes crossed.

They emerged and noticed it was late afternoon.

«See you around, Lili.» Bell wished with his usual candidness.

The pallum made a shaky nod and walked away. The boy instead headed toward the Pantheon. He hoped to find Eina, and luckily did.

«Bell!» she greeted with a huge relief.

«Miss Eina. I’m back.» he chirped.

«Are you okay? What did…?» Eina started, but Bell raised a hand.

«May we talk in private, please?» he asked politely.

«I, uh...sure. Let’s find a consultation booth.»

With that settled, Bell explained the events of the day: the trick from Lili, but also how she had been abused and beaten by members of her own Familia before being left to die, and how he had saved her despite everything.

«I am sure of this: you don’t need to worry about her anymore, Miss Eina.» the boy concluded optimistically.

He sounded confident enough that Eina finally made a relieved smile. «Well, I’m glad everything is solved. And that you’re fine.»

Bell then assumed a more neutral face. «Thank you, but I don’t think it’s over, yet. You see, Lili has decided to pretend that she died in the Dungeon, but I simply can’t stay and watch should she be reached out to again by the same people who exploited her and tried to feed her to the monsters. I want to do something.»

Seeing that pure resolution in his eyes, Eina sighed and smiled reassuringly. «All right. Tell me what your plan is.»

The large column of soldiers only needed another hour to reach the 24^th Floor. Thanks to their numbers, they could afford to let the less experienced stay in the vanguard and fight the monsters along the way for some experience, while keeping the veterans fresh to fight the horde that was accumulating at their destination. They also found the small detachment sent to lock the floor down on their way. Luckily, they had not been attacked by any large pack of monsters and held their own for four days. Now, Mirne told them to rest and reach the camp they had left on the 18^th so they could help defend it from any possible attack.

And so, the Guard began its operation to clear the 24 ^th Floor of any anomaly. With Mirne at the head, the first echelon of troops, numbering a total of a hundred, with a Level ranging from Mid 3 to 4, charged in, shields at the front and spears piercing through bug-bears and battle-boars.

The 24^th Floor also hosted flying monsters: the Gun Liberlas. These slim insects were slightly bigger than a fully grown human adult, and they had two pairs of wings that allowed them to strike rapidly with their stingers or mandibles.

However, the Guard had the countermeasure for them: its Supporters.

The Supporters of the Guard were not just responsible for communications and supplies: they were all equipped with a special crossbow named ‘Auto-Arrow’, for it could automatically reload a bolt after firing. Needing only two seconds to accomplish this operation, this weapon allowed for deployment of an effective ranged attack to cover the frontline troops. Therefore, every Supporter in the Guard was trained daily to become a sharpshooter.

With the disciplined, rhythmic fire of the Supporters, the Liberlas were quickly shot down, allowing the frontline to focus on the charge of the massive creatures. The second line started hurling packets shaped like little balls and filled with a highly flammable substance, an invention of Asfi herself, which was easily ignited and weakened the monster parade. It also allowed the frontline to fight smaller groups, because the fire, while brief, forced the monsters at the back to stay still while their kin in the front were isolated.

«It’s...impressive.» Ais commented as she observed the battle from the edge of the floor’s access, next to Dardanus, Zald, and Alfia.

«From what I know, your Familia also employs formation tactics.» Zald said, as if she wasn’t supposed to be that impressed.

«Yes...Yet this is...a whole new level.»

«Against superior numbers, discipline might be the only thing saving you in the Dungeon.» Dardanus explained. «The Guard brings that philosophy to the extreme. However, things will certainly change once we reach the Northern pantry.»

With unparalleled efficiency, the expedition easily cleared the south-eastern pantry and secured the corridor needed to reach their goal. Still, nobody expected to see the disgusting sight barring their path halfway along the way.

«What is this?» Dardanus asked.

«Looks like some kind of green flesh.» Zald. «But I’ve never seen something like this.»

«Now we know why the monsters are amassing all over the rest of the floor.» Alfia commented.

«Let’s see if the basics work.» Mirne said. «Veda. Blast it open!»

The chief of the mage squad took position and started chanting. Alfia recognized a fire-based spell that took two minutes before the blast finally arrived. It immediately set the wall of flesh ablaze, opening a significant gap in the wall and showing the way forward, which was coated entirely in that substance.

«Well. It’s disgusting. I guess we’re on the right path.» commented Bayrun Stonewall, the Dwarf in command of the heavy squad that would have to follow the team of high-level people preparing to move.

«Tighten the ranks and let’s get moving.» Mirne instructed as she took the head of the column, with Dardanus, Zald, Alfia, and Ais following right behind.

They kept walking, hearing the sounds of the battle behind them becoming less intense. The monsters were severely reduced in number and eventually started to retreat, giving the Guard much-needed room to breathe as they prepared the last push toward the pantry.

It didn’t take long before the first column found something very unsettling: large piles of what looked like ash.

«Are those...remains of monsters?» Zald asked. «I’ve never seen so much ash together.»

«But who…?» Mirne asked before she and Dardanus had the same intuition and looked up.

Thus, they saw a large number of flowers with two terrifying sets of teeth: an external one made like a carnivorous plant, but one inside equal to that of a human.

«Shields up!» the Executive screamed, right before the plants darted toward the surface.

While the soldiers knelt and absorbed the first assault with their shields, the higher levels spread and immediately counterattacked instead.

«Gospel.» People could hear Alfia use one of her two super-short chant spells, Satanas Verion.

While Alfia spread her ‘bubbles’ of sound, preparing to detonate them and remove as many flower creatures as possible, the others started cutting down. After giving the heavy troops the time to draw their weapons, the monsters quickly began to be relentlessly cut down.

«Everyone! Brace yourselves!» Alfia alerted. She pronounced the second key spell once everyone had returned to the floor. «Lugio.»

The blocks of sound detonated, rocking the floor and shaking the whole tunnel. Soon enough, dozens of severed pieces of the flowers and green flash rained down on the humans. It left a disgusting amount of flesh on everyone, but the path was now clear.

«Those instant spells sure are useful.» Bayrun commented.

«Only in restricted spaces like this and limited amounts of enemies.» Alfia replied, thus underlining that they better not rely on her magic for everything.

«Everyone at the ready!» the Lieutenant instructed after nodding to her.

The soldiers reassessed their postures and, on Mirne’s order, resumed the march at double time. Their next stop was a fork.

«Where do we go?» Ais asked.

But before anybody could start guessing, they heard the hissing of multiple flower monsters coming from both directions. New ones had started to reemerge from the same roof the column had just cleared, so the group found itself fighting in every direction.

«Alfia, on the defense with me. Ais, Zald, take a direction each!» Dardanus instinctively instructed his peers.

They complied. While the soldiers kept the enemy at bay, the high-level adventurers unleashed their strength against the monsters. However, as soon as Ais had cut through the first swaths of monsters in her direction, suddenly, some much larger stems crawled from the threshold and formed a barrier that separated Ais from the rest of the group.

As they eliminated the first wave, Alfia promptly went to inspect the cage.

«You keep going. Zald, would you please?» she said.

While Dardanus exhorted the Vice-Captain to press the unit on, Zald went before the barrier and prepared one of his skills, charging up a monumental blow. After four seconds, he yelled a battle cry and dashed forward, swinging his trusted two-handed sword Grattor onto the barrier.

The hit was more than enough to crush the barrier, opening a large hole. And with that, the two rushed inside to find Ais and the red-haired tamer that Dardanus had described, squaring off with their swords ready to clash.

The tamer saw the two Demons, and her angered gaze immediately added a note of alarm.

«Ais.» Alfia called.

However, the girl gestured with an arm to ask that they not come forward.

«Please, Lady Alfia. Lord Zald. This is my battle. I have to...fight her.» she said with a voice that, despite her usual lack of emotion, showed no doubt whatsoever, and so did her gaze, firmly pointed on her target.

Alfia went as far as to read her aura...and finally smiled.

«All right. Don’t take too long.» she quipped as she turned around.

Zald also didn’t oppose, instead showing appreciation for the courage of that young girl.

Fighting their way through some more flowers, the Guards finally found some reprieve as they saw what looked like the end of the tunnel just a hundred meders in front of them.

«If you need a potion or take a leak, it’s now or never!» Mirne instructed, giving the men a minute of respite, allowing Alfia and Zald to catch up.

«Where’s Ais?» Dardanus asked, confused.

«We offered help, but she wanted to fight that tamer alone.» Zald explained.

«The tamer is here?!» the Executor asked.

«Yup. But I don’t think we must be worried about the Sword Princess.» Alfia said with confidence.

Dardanus smirked. «She has quite the grit. That’s indisputable.»

Alfia chuckled. «If she hadn’t, I would’ve told Bell to give up on her.» she whispered to her friends, who also shared a short laugh.

«All right, men! Time’s up. I hope you said your prayers, because we’re about to enter that pantry.» Mirne shouted right after that. «Be prepared for anything, and remember: we are the City Guard! Even if we are to fight a God at full power, we will protect the peace of Orario!»

The soldiers all replied with a heartfelt roar. Then they readjusted themselves and marched toward the cave's exit, which brought them to their final destination: the pantry.

Just like the one their comrades had already occupied, the pantry room was very large and tall. It was dominated by a huge crystal sitting in the middle, which released nutritious minerals into the pond surrounding its base. For that reason, floors like that one were called pantries: the monsters used those as sources of food capable of making them slightly stronger than average.

However, right then, that crystal was enveloped entirely by a humongous plant, a clearly improved version of the flowers they had been fighting up to that point. This one not only had a different kind of head, with a number of what looked like giant colored leaves at the point, but it also had two additional extensions, each with another head at the top. The plant was tall enough to coil around the whole crystal of the pantry, leaving only a few stripes uncovered.

«A parasitic plant.» Bayrun commented. «Is it generating all those monsters?»

«From the looks of it, at least.» Mirne said in return.

They also noticed that several new flower monsters were being born from the walls of green flesh. Segregated into a far corner, they even spotted some of those creatures locked up in cages.

«Hey. Over there!» Dardanus alerted after noticing something important, toward which he pointed the point of his bardiche. Everyone’s gaze thus fell on a slight bulge of green flesh on top of which a spherical object was lying in a small hole. «It’s the same object in Rivira! The spawn of the Spirit!»

«Wait...look!» Zald instead pointed to one of the rocky uplands that the green flesh hadn’t swallowed, specifically the one right next to the sphere.

On top of it was a human male with skin as pale as a corpse. His face was covered by a Skull Sheep’s head, which couldn’t hide its long, white hair. His body was covered only by a wrapped cloth around the waist, fingerless gloves, and a little more aside from his boots that covered most of his legs.

«Is that guy a tamer?» Veda pondered, seeing that the monsters were not attacking him.

But before they could come up with an answer, they heard somebody else scream from another point of that hill that they couldn’t see quite well.

«Comrades! Unsheath your blades for our desire! Bring death to those ignorant intruders!»

Followed by a chant that couldn’t be clearer: «Death! Death! Death!»

Then, from behind the hill, a war cry followed, and a large group of nearly 50 people, all wearing white dresses and headgear that resembled ancient monks, charged toward them, wielding all kinds of daggers and swords.

«Are they seriously attacking with those?» Mirne asked, though she felt suspicion brewing in her mind.

On the other hand, Dardanus, Alfia, and Zald recognized that outfit and their eyes widened in terror.

«Mirne! Don’t let those guys close! They are suicide bombers!» the Executor immediately passed.

All of a sudden, the Vice-Captain seemed to remember that she, as well, had seen people like those before...seven years before, to be precise.

«Supporters! Switch to ranged attack! Don’t let those guys approach the formation!»

Even while carrying their large backpacks, the Supporters grabbed their Auto-Arrows and prepared two lines of fire before the infantry. There were twenty of them. Ten knelt while the others stood behind them.

Some of the men in white had bows and threw a few arrows, but they were imprecise, and the line infantry used their shields to protect their comrades.

«Are those...Evilus?!» Alfia asked, baffled.

«With their clothing and their eagerness to die...if they aren’t, they are goddamn close to it.» Dardanus said with the grim realization that this whole story was extremely more sinister than it had looked until that moment.

The suspected members of Evilus kept charging, but as soon as they entered in range, the Supporters started to bolt them down, not wasting a single arrow, even when two or three men happened to choose the same target. At one point, one of the robed men exploded, for an arrow had probably ignited one of the explosives those maniacs had attached to their bodies. That explosion only urged the sharpshooters to fire with even more accuracy, and before long, all those brainwashed men and women were lying dead on the ground. Some tried to get closer and detonate themselves anyway, in an act of spite.

«Violas!» the voice of the strange pale man suddenly yelled.

A large number of flower monsters thus sprang into action. Despite the urgency, Dardanus was kinda relieved that they could finally attach a name to those things.

«This is not simple taming.» Zald commented. «We need to take down that man, and quickly!»

«Agreed. Alfia, support the troops! Find a way to acquire that jewel! Zald and I are going to take the mask off that guy!» the Executor ordered.

«On it!» the mage replied. «Ataraxia!» she added, invoking her second spell, a defensive one.

Meanwhile, leveraging their tremendous speed, Dardanus and Zald dashed across the floor, heading at full speed against that mysterious, yet oddly familiar, tamer.

They swung their weapons, but one person noticed them and dodged despite their speed, which was renowned as impossible to catch in all of Orario.

The tamer clicked his tongue. «Of all the people…» he said, annoyed.

That voice, however. It was one of those that Dardanus could never forget.

«What…?» he first growled softly. «You!» yelled then.

The Executor charged again, delivering a decisive blow to the enemy; however, that one drew out two short swords and managed to block the attack of a Level 8. He even showed to be incredibly quick in his movements, though it was nothing that Dardanus and Zald could not follow, and the pressure of two of the strongest men in Orario allowed them to gain the advantage.

«Violas!» the man yelled once again.

Before they could notice, Dardanus and Zald were once again attacked by a large number of flower monsters. They weren’t that much of a threat to them, but they were so many and so insistent that they successfully hindered the two adventurers’ movements.

So much so that the tamer eventually connected one of his blows against Zald’s armor, penetrating it on the left hip. Zald was still dodging enough that it only scraped his skin, but the simple fact that his legendary armor could be broken just like that was a giant alarm bell.

«Are you alright?» Dardanus asked.

«Please. This is nothing.» his friend shrugged off. «Rather, you seemed to know him.»

«I’m sure you will, too, once we remove that mask.» Dardanus grunted.

They were then interrupted by an explosion that rocked the eastern wall, and from it emerged three new adventurers. Thanks to their sight, the two humans recognized Bete Loga, Lefiya Viridis, and another female elf with a white outfit and blue hems that accompanied her red eyes and flowing black hair. They identified her as Filvis Challia, the bodyguard of the God Dionysus.

The trio was pretty close to the two of them, so Bete jumped down and ran up to them.

«Hey, old men! Where’s Ais?» he asked with his aggressive voice.

«Trust me, pup.» Zald replied in tone, even if his voice sounded calm. «Ais is perfectly fine on her own. Now we have another problem. Go to Alfia, she will explain what you have to do.»

Bete now sounded a bit less arrogant. «S...She’s here?»

«Don’t just stand there, go!» Zald reprimanded.

Bete clicked his tongue and obeyed, signaling the two elves to accompany him.

«Zald. Cover me.» Dardanus implicitly asked.

«I’ve got you.» the tall man replied just before charging again at the Violas.

Quickly cutting them down, he opened a path to Dardanus, who was instead charging up his second Skill.

Lawbringer

When confronted with a powerful force of evil, be it human or monster, Dardanus could use this Skill to receive a massive boost of energy that could last several minutes, improving all his Abilities and allowing him the chance to deliver a charged blow to finish off his opponent.

With his flanks secured, the Executor finally charged back at the tamer.

This time, after distracting him with a mere surprise kick, he managed to find an opening and swing his most substantial blow yet at him.

The tamer managed to get back enough not to be cut in two right away, but the blow still connected, and the energy exploded with a massive detonation, which sent the tamer flying and smashing into one of the uncovered rocky walls. With him gone, even the Violas seemed to relent their assault on the primary formation, though they still defended the jewel.

But once the dust and the smoke settled, the tamer was still in one piece, even if wounded. And his mask was shattered.

And still...he got back on his feet pretty quickly.

«You were close, Executor.» he said mockingly, and as his figure started to become more discernible, others in the room began to realize his identity. «However, there’s no way my body, which is loved by ‘Her’, would break so easily.»

As his wounds started to repair themselves without magic, Zald walked next to Dardanus and looked distressed and angry. «Is this a joke?!» he whispered, unable to believe his eyes.

«I’m afraid not.» Dardanus replied, barely holding back a boiling anger.

Finally, the man became clear to see. He had yellow-green eyes that looked at Dardanus and Zald along with a malicious grin, and his face now left no doubts about his identity.

«Vendetta…» Zald whispered, still unable to believe who was in front of them.

«Olivas Act!» Dardanus said with rage. A rage that he had long left to rest, for he had long believed that man to be dead.

That man. Once one of the leaders of Evilus during the Great Feud. Responsible for the terror bombings and for opening the gates to the mightiest warriors of the Empire and Rakia, almost spelling the destruction of Orario. That man, who had been directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents and some of the more promising adventurers of the next generation. Adventurers that Dardanus himself had nurtured and befriended.

And the man who, in a last act of spite, caused the Nightmare of the 27 ^th Floor, and everyone had assumed he had been killed, for only his lower body had been found.

«So you were alive!» Dardanus kept roaring.

«No. Actually, I died.» Olivas replied confidently, and the two Demons noticed that his legs were clearly made up of something other than human flesh and bones: they were made up of several different pieces, chiseled together so much that they left markings similar to a checkerboard.

«But I’ve come back from the depths of death.» Olivas kept saying, then he suddenly raised his head, looking upward and extending his hands as if he was in some kind of mystic ecstasy, then he bellowed out with a passion that matched that impression: «I was given a second chance at life! By none other than ‘Her’!»

At that moment, Dardanus and Zald noticed a spirit stone in the middle of his chest, for it had been uncovered by the Executor’s previous blow. And that stone had a vivid color, much like those of the Violas that had been recovered so far.

«You’ve gotta be kidding me!» Mirne said as she recognized Olivas as well. And the remembrance of the many Guards who had died because of him made her blood boil.

Alfia reached out with a hand. «Vice-Captain, calm down. If you lose your edge, your men will be in danger.»

Recalled to reality, Mirne quickly regained her senses, so that her men, who were also in shock, would not lose their minds. But she still made sure to make her question heard. «Just what are you?»

Olivas made a sadistically satisfied expression. He extended an arm to indicate the two men in front of him and the other toward the severed head of a Viola.

«Human and Monsters. I am a supreme being with the powers of both. I’ve gone past you fools who are being played around with by the Gods!» he preached as he grabbed the severed head and made sure to show it to everyone. «The Violas and I come from the same origin: ‘Her’! The Monsters obey me as ‘Her’ agent!»

«Who the hell is he talking about?!» Bete asked, irritated.

While Violas kept blabbering about facts the humans had already guessed, seeing his fanatical devotion to ‘Her’, Alfia couldn’t help but feel the hypothesis of a Spirit being involved was becoming ever more challenging to deny. Only a being with a divine presence could somehow create that variety of creatures and instill such a disgusting adoration by a man like him.

However, in all that rambling, the man didn't even try to hide once Dardanus interrupted the Violas and asked him what he hoped to accomplish. All the contrary: he smiled as he said it.

«To destroy Orario, of course.»

Everyone fell silent. Olivas had now arrived at the point where he was willing to destroy Babel and Orario to let the Monsters roam into the lower world once again.

«I’ll grant her wish. ‘She’ wants to see the sky.» he kept saying in adoration.

However, tired of hearing him, Zald spoke up.

«Shut up. I don’t care what kind of creature a sicko like you has fallen for. But I know that you’re just talking to buy time.»

Olivas stopped, realizing they were about to attack again, and replied. «It’s true. Despite everything, you still hurt me, Dardanus. I can’t really move that well, at the moment...only that, though.»

A chill ran down the humans, but before they could react, Olivas raised his arm and spoke to the giant creature coiled around the pantry. «Viscum! Kill them all!»

With an absurd speed, two of the creature’s heads soared toward both groups: the Guards and the two Demons.

«Scatter!!» Alfia immediately yelled, noticing the giant body of the lateral head falling on them.

However, there was no time for everyone to open the formation. It could have turned into a massacre if Bayrun hadn’t jumped upward, keeping his warhammer high and delivering a blow to the stem.

It didn’t stop it, but it certainly made it bounce back for a second. Enough for the troops beneath it to disperse and save themselves when the body fell down, flattening everything on its path.

«Gospel!» Alfia targeted the head, and while it managed to damage it, her magic was not suited for such a huge enemy.

Dardanus and Zald found themselves in a similar predicament. Both heads unleashed a seemingly endless stream of tentacles from their mouths, which started lashing out at everyone.

«Keep your shields up! Don’t get overwhelmed!» Mirne ordered the line infantry. «Mages! Use your short chants! Whatever you got!»

Seeing that there were now two members of different Familias, Alfia took the duty of coordinating them.

«Viridis! Get back the other mages and prepare your Arcs Ray! Challia! You have a barrier spell, don’t you?!»

However, the elf of Dionysus was not listening. Her eyes, filled with resentment and wrath, looked at the distant Olivas Act.

«Miss Filvis?» Lefiya asked with urgency, noticing her gaze, as well.

«Olivas Act…» Filvis growled.

«Get it together! Challia!» Alfia intervened firmly. «We will get that bastard, I swear!» she said with a tone that was no less furious at the man who had orchestrated the death of her students, years before. «But first, we need to survive this assault.»

Filvis grunted in frustration, but fell back in line. «Viridis, everyone. Do what you want, I will shield you!» she declared.

Just as the battle began to turn up the heat, everyone’s attention was dragged toward another explosion from the wall, where another hole was opened as, to the surprise of many, the red-haired tamer flew into the room.

Instead, on the edge of the newly opened cavity stood the figure of a girl in a white dress holding a rapier.

«Miss Ais!» Lefiya said with a joyful and relieved face.

Alfia instead smiled toward her, approving of her performance.

«Are you all just talk, Revis?» Olivas Act then said to the wounded tamer. «How pitiful.»

Then he moved a hand and turned one of Viscum’s heads toward Ais instead of Dardanus and Zald, despite Revis protesting.

But as the head approached at full speed, Ais activated her magic. A strong wind was imbued into her blade, and the stroke she delivered with full power cut the head of the creature (and a good portion of the stem) in two, leaving everybody speechless, particularly Olivas.

Alfia herself didn’t know if she should feel afraid or admired. That kind of power was way too much for a simple combat magic.

Yet again, when she considered Ais’s origins, they weren’t that difficult to accept.

«What?!» Olivas screamed after falling on his butt for the shock.

However, after a passing moment, the old Evilus leader stood back up and devised a new plan.

«Violas! Attack the Sword Princess! Stop her for even a second! Viscum, crush the others!» he yelled.

«Lady Alfia!» Filvis said. «I think I can blast its head. I just need a path open!»

Alfia looked around and decided that only one person could help her sort through the renewed barrage of tentacles quickly.

«All right, Loga. Show me your trash talk is not just hot air!» she commanded. «Open a path for her!»

Bete clicked his tongue, but he had learned not to provoke her by then.

The pairing Alfia had chosen turned out to be perfect: Bete quickly opened a path with his kicks, where his weapon was placed, and Filvis dispatched the head by using her attack: a short chant spell named Dio Thyrsos unleashed a powerful and short-ranged beam that blew away the head. As the stem started turning to ash, the Guards hurried to surround Olivas.

«It can’t be...I can’t possibly lose…» the man said as he went mad.

Dardanus and Zald, now joined by Ais, approached him.

«Let’s make this quick: which floor do we have to get to?» the Executor asked without half-measures.

But then Revis appeared in front of him. Feeling rejuvenated, Olivas started laughing.

«That’s right! We’re superior beings that have been chosen by ‘Her’! Revis, give some time. When I’m healed, we can attack them-»

«What a farce.» Revis interrupted.

«Uh?!»

The next thing everybody knew was that Revis planted her fist into Olivas’ chest, leaving everybody too shocked to move.

«R-Revis...what?» the man gasped.

«I need power. The Violas are not enough.» she cut short.

Then she simply ripped the magic stone from him. As the body of Olivas now turned to ash once and for all, Revis swallowed the stone before anybody could react.

And then, she charged at Ais, with a speed that ignored even Dardanus and Zald.

«Damn it...wait, somebody get the jewel!» Mirne instructed, reminding everyone of their objective.

Indeed, they had approached the jewel quite enough. Alfia dashed toward it, only to see it being snatched away by a new figure.

A figure clad in a black cape and outfit, with a black mask colored with red motifs covering the face. It reminded the mage of Fels, but this one still had its flesh and bones.

«It’s not complete, but it’s ready!» Revis said through her battle. «Take it to Enyo!»

«Got it.» the figure said in a voice that was most likely distorted by some magic item, then it ran away with great speed.

Just as Alfia was about to chase, she heard Revis give another order.

«Viscum! Give birth until you shrivel up!»

In the span of ten seconds, new Violas started to emerge from the roof...from the floor...from the walls...everywhere.

«What the…?»

«Form up! Defensive formation!!» Mirne yelled immediately. «Infantry! Form two circles! Mage at the center!»

Realizing that staying alone would mean she would get crushed by the sheer numbers, Alfia was forced to fall back with the mages.

Dardanus also rushed back to bolster the defense, while Zald and Ais continued to fight a Revis that had been powered up in a single second by acquiring Olivas’ stone.

Thanks to their training, the Guards had quickly assembled, but the Violas were covering every side one could look toward. There was no way out of that place.

«What...what is this…?» Lefiya cowered, her eyes full of terror.

However, as she looked at her, Alfia remembered something important.

«Lefiya! Only you can get us out of here!» she said vigorously.

«W...What…?!» Lefiya asked, confused and scared.

«You can use Riveria’s magic, right? Well, that’s our only way!»

«I...I…» the young elf still hesitated.

«Hey!» Bete's voice came in.

The werewolf angrily approached his companion and grabbed the hem of her coat. «Either you do that, or we’re all dead!» he snarled. «The old hag chose you for a reason! Prove that you can be something other than dead weight!» and then pushed her away. «I’m going where Ais is!» he finally declared.

After a few more seconds, when Lefiya would not stop shaking, she finally resolved her mind. With a face that wasn’t hiding either that or her fear, she still turned toward Mirne.

«Vice-Captain! Please, I need you to protect me for three minutes!»

Mirne turned and looked at her. «You think you alone can make a difference?!» she asked, a bit irritated, yet hopeful.

«B...Believe in me, please! I will save...everyone who protects me!» she yelled, even with nervousness breaking her voice.

Nonetheless, the officer acknowledged her words. «Everyone! Hold the line! We need to hold them for three minutes!» she yelled.

The Guards were already fighting for their dear lives all around. Surrounded on all sides, even the help of strong individuals like Dardanus and Bayrun seemed futile against the endless spawning of Violas. It didn’t matter if a single blow of the Executor took out ten at a time: twenty more were ready to take their place.

«Go, Lefiya. I’ll cover you.» Alfia reassured.

Lefiya nodded and then formed her magic circle.

«Ancestors of the forest…»

The first stage of her final attack: Elf Ring. A unique magic that allowed Lefiya to use a third spell, a feature only Alfia had in the past, but only as a condition for her old disease. Lefiya could instead use this spell to invoke another magic used by other elves.

And what they needed right then was Riveria’s ultimate destruction spell: Rea Laevateinn .

The mages around her also formed a circle and started firing their attack spells to relieve even the tiniest bit of weight from the frontline soldiers.

However, the first losses arrived quickly. Alfia saw a guard being grabbed by the arm, chomped, and taken away.

«Replace the fallen! Don’t leave any gap!» Mirne instructed.

«...Stand your ground!» Dardanus evoked his Skill to boost the formation as he ran around.

Finally, the emergency on the 24^th Floor had been declared over.

Aside from a recommendation not to hinder the movements of the Guard, the Guild gave the ‘all-clear’ to all the adventurers who needed to go or pass through that floor.

Not that Bell was touched by that news: he and Lili had no intention to go that deeply.

«Say, Master Bell.» Lili asked with a bit of hesitation. «Shall we aim to clear the 10^th Floor...for real, this time?»

Bell smiled. «Funny. I was about to ask that myself. Yes, I feel like it shouldn’t be impossible for us, at the moment.»

It had been two days since that incident, and since Lili had finally repented from her underhanded ways. She was now feigning her death to hide from her Familia, which was why, before they headed for Babel, Bell decided to make his proposal to her.

«Lili, would you consider converting to my Familia?»

«Uh…?» Lili stuttered.

«Your Familia has treated you horribly so far, right? Even if you are now hiding from them, there is no guarantee that you’ll be safe forever. Also, without going to your deity, you can’t update your Status. You’d be stuck.»

He said that with a clarity of vision that impressed even himself. Being trained by his aunt and uncles seemed to bear fruit not just in terms of physical strength.

Lili looked awestruck at first, but then her mood quickly turned gloomy.

«I...I would...if I could.» she said with a sad smile.

«But you can.» Bell countered.

«No, I can’t. Everyone who wishes to leave Soma Familia has to pay a fee. Two million valis at the very least. Captain’s policy.»

«So the rumors were true.» Bell said unfazed. «Listen, Lili, it’s not a very well-known law, but putting conditions on a Conversion is illegal!»

«Eh…?» Lili asked with a glint of hope.

«I spoke with my Advisor. Converting out of a Familia is an inalienable right in Orario. It’s a decree that Uncle Dardanus pushed when he became Executor. It’s supposed to be a simple matter between the child and the deities of the Familias involved. If your Familia is exploiting you and forcing you to pay to leave it, then they are committing a crime. You have every right to sue them. Maybe the simple threat will convince your Captain to back down.»

«I...I didn’t know that…» Lili murmured, astonished.

«If you want, we can talk to my uncle once he returns.» Bell insisted. «He will certainly help us.»

Lili lowered her head, pondering. She made her considerations, and after a few seconds, she raised her head with a determined face. «I appreciate the thought, Master Bell. But...for the moment...I think it’s better to leave the situation as it is.»

«Can I ask why?» Bell asked, a little disheartened.

«Even if I sue them and win the trial, there is no guarantee that Captain Zanis will not try to come back at us later. And, with all respect, Master Bell, you alone can’t possibly defend against the whole Soma Familia, even if their overall Level is quite low.»

Bell made a grunt of frustration at himself.

«Before I try to leave the Soma Familia, I have to ensure that we can defend ourselves from any retaliation. Even if the Three Demons protect you, there are a number of ways by which they can ruin your lives.» Lili laid out clearly.

«I...see.» Bell felt himself quite stupid. He thought he had this covered, but now he realized that he was being too optimistic. That the power of the law alone would protect them from the petty revenge of another Familia.

Lili then made a more reassuring smile. «Besides, you might be too kind to hold a grudge, but I want to show Lady Hestia that she can trust me, first. So, for now, let’s keep the status quo. Once you...once we become stronger, I will be more than happy to become a part of your Familia, Master Bell.»

That was right. Bell knew that he needed more strength if he wanted to protect what was dear to him. His mind rushed to a far day in his past—one of the first times his aunt had come to visit him. She seemed pessimistic about the world and unsure whether a new hero who could save the world would be able to rise.

Bell now knew she was saying that because she was mourning the loss of her most promising students, but he remembered the vow he had made, even as a child.

«Then I’ll become a hero! I will become strong and save the world...for you, auntie!»

Alfia had returned that statement with a smile. Even if she didn’t intend for him to become an adventurer, Bell still remembered the feeling of joy that he had felt when he had managed to put a smile on his auntie’s face.

And while he had found new motivations since he came to Orario, that ambition had never faded: he still wanted to become the hero his dearest guardians had longed for so long.

Reinvigorated by that memory, Bell smiled and said: «Then we'd better start immediately. Don’t worry Lili: I will become stronger. For you...for Goddess...and everyone who has brought me here.»

«Yes.» Lili replied enthusiastically.

Thus, they began another day inside the Dungeon.

Chapter Text

The operation on the 24^th Floor might have achieved its objective of restoring the natural order of things there, so it could reasonably be called a success. However, Zald, Dardanus and Alfia couldn’t help but feel disheartened by the outcome.

The Guard had lost four soldiers; Revis had managed to escape and was now much stronger than before; and while she had invited Aiz to reach the 59^th Floor, they still knew way too little about their real enemy.

For the moment, they knew that there were remnants of Evilus at work, but they didn’t know which deity was supporting them, and who was actually leading them, since Olivas Act seemed to be unrelated to them.

«Who else did we miss after the Great Feud?» Zald reasoned.

«I mean...we sent a few deities back to Heaven, then, but there were some of the leaders that we never actually confirmed whether they were alive or dead.» Alfia replied. «Come to think about it...could it be…?»

«Speculation will only lead us astray.» Dardanus cut short, sitting at his desk. «What’s important is that we now know that Evilus is rearing its head and is connected to the plot to destroy Orario. These individuals may be our key to understanding this entire situation.»

«So where do we start looking?» Zald asked.

«Those cages that we saw in the pantry. We have confirmed that the individuals behind this are smuggling Violas outside of the Dungeon. Perhaps if we can find a trail of that traffic, we can trace it back to this secondary access that we can’t see.» Dardanus explained.

«And the planned expedition to the 59^th? Shall we join that?» Alfia asked.

«Yes. We will follow the Lokis for the most part, for I wish that they can prove themselves, but I want to see for myself what’s going on down there. You guys, though, don’t really have to join if you don’t want to.»

«After everything they put us through?» Zald said with some defiance. «Don’t even try. If there's indeed a Spirit involved, then it’s our responsibility as adults to support the youngsters.»

«He’s right. I trust the Loki Familia to get us there anyway. This will be a cakewalk.» Alfia said with some confidence.