Alright, new chapter! I'll be trying to update as often as my schedule will allow.

I walked slowly through the dark streets, the sounds of revelry growing louder as I neared The Hostess. The adventurers came at this time, looking for good food and good company after long stays in the dungeon. It's a good thing the prices went up at this time.

I walked inside, scanning the crowd for my goddess. I finally saw her by the bar, talking to Miss Mia.

"Miss Mia, Goddess, I'm back." I said with a smile, walking up to them. they both looked down at me with warmth.

"Koinu," My goddess looked at the state of my clothes. "it looks like you had an eventful day."

"It wasn't too exciting until I made a friend." They both looked puzzled for a moment. "A Minotaur escaped onto the fifth floor and I saved someone, and now he and I are friend. We ran the whole way up to the surface."

They stared at me for a moment, looked at each other, then grinned.

"Of course our pup would become a hero." Miss Mia said, ruffling my hair. "I'm sure he'll make a habit of it."

I beamed at the praise, always one to love attention. I could feel my tail wag unconsciously behind me.

"We even decided we'd form a two man party in the dungeon. So maybe you'll meet him tomorrow." I looked around the tavern, taking in the sounds and smells that I'd grown accustomed to. "Goddess, could we update my status? I'd like to see my increase from zero."

All an adventurers stats start at zero when they gain the falna, regardless of their abilities beforehand. Why that is, I'm not sure anyone really knows.

"Of course, koinu." She patted my shoulder. "That is, if Mia will allow me away from her for a small while." She flashed a knowing smile at Miss Mia.

The two of them had grown quite close in the two years we'd been here. I'm pretty sure they're a couple, but I can't be certain.

"Of course, Ama, go take care of the pup." She waved us off as we headed up the stairs.

We walked down the hallway, coming to our cozy little room.

It wasn't anything extravagant, but we had made it our own. A canvas stood in the corner over a tarp, a half-finished landscape from where my goddess had to get ready for work. She loved to paint. A painting of everyone at The hostess hung proudly on the wall opposite the door.

A large dresser held the majority of our clothes while the rest hung in the closet. Off to the side was a door leading to a small bathroom.

I laid on the bed, removing my armor and shirt. I felt a warm droplet land on my back, then the warmth spread until it felt as if I were bathed in sunlight. A soft chime rang out as my goddess placed a piece of paper onto my back, transferring my status. The warmth soon receeded into my body, making me feel relaxed and refreshed.

"You've certainly grown a lot in a single day." She said, handing me the paper. I looked it over carefully.

Hikari

level 1

Str: 0 - 61

Vit: 0 - 32

Dex: 0 - 101

Agi: 0 - 133

Mag: 0 - 3

Magic:

Skills:

Kemono no tamashī: Only activates under moonlight. Becomes beast-like. Increases stats

Pack bond: Able to sense when those close to them are in trouble.

Bleeding heart: Increases stats when defending or aiding others

I looked at the paper with awe. I was at a loss for words. Mostly.

"How could my abilities have gone up so much!" I near shouted. I'd never heard of this kind of growth before.

"You've always grown quickly, koinu. I suppose that translated to your stats as well. Your skills are what worry me." She stood up, walking to the window. "If you are to have a pack, be a leader and set an example. If your heart is to bleed, let that blood be replaced by the enemy's. Survive." She turned back to me, smiling in the way a mother might smile at her child. "I'm proud of you, but be cautious."

"Of course, goddess. I'll become strong so people will know us and we can be happy." I stated, grinning at her. Not a second after, a yawn forced it's way past my lips.

"Get some rest, Koinu." With that, she walked out to get back to work

I checked my equipment once again, running a whetstone over my blades before sheathing them. I'd gotten up early to get a good start on the dungeon with Bell. Only Syr, Ryuu, my goddess, and Arnya were up this early.

I walked to the door seeing Syr talking to someone.

"It's a promise." She said, moving and letting me see exactly who she was talking to.

"Bell-kun!" I shouted, getting the attention of both of them. I moved to stand next to Bell, nudging him with my shoulder. "I see my sister has been extending Hostess Hospitality to you."

"Your sister?" He asked, stowing away the food Syr had no doubt given him.

"Not by blood, but we might as well be. All of us here at The hostess are family." She said with a grin. "We have to clean up, so take care of our little brother, Bell-kun." She hurried back inside, leaving us to walk to the dungeon.

"So, Bell-kun, I wanted to ask you," I started, walking towards Babel. "Do you have someone special in your life? A crush or anything?" I was curious. Bell was very good looking and acted very mature for his age, so if someone could grab his interest it would be worth being curious.

He thought for a second. "Maybe Aiz-san, the woman who killed the minotaur yesterday, but that wouldn't really go anywhere. So not really."

"Well the Sword Princess is beautiful, but she's always seemed a bit cold. I've only seen her from a distance though." I told him, looking at the fruit being vended.

"Yeah. Maybe I'll find someone. I hope I do." He looked off into the distance like he had before.

I dropped another Kobold with a stab to the chest as Bell flipped over the last one before slitting it's throat. The room clear, we set to picking up the magic stones.

"I hope we have enough here for new equipment." I said, looking down at the straps barely keeping my chestplate on.

Bell looked like he was about to say something when he stopped, looking at something in his hand. "We got a drop item." He said with a grin.

"Lucky us." I said, equally happy. Drop items were worth a good amount.

We stood up, preparing to move when the sound of sifting stone from all sides stopped us. A pack of Kobolds were being born into the dungeon.

"Th-there's got to be at least thirty of them." Bell said, an obvious shake in his voice.

"Hey, Bell-kun." I said, drawing both my blades anew. "Let's see who can take down the most of them."

At my words, his shaking stopped and a determined look set itself on his face. We waited until the last one touched ground, then we set to work.

Bell charged in, slashing and twisting in the crowd. It was only elegant. I ran to the ones on the outskirts. Distracted by Bell's initial charge, they were easy to dispatch.

I got through three before they noticed there was another threat and started focusing on me as well.

I ducked a swipe of claws before putting my tanto through the attacker's bottom jaw and into it's brain. Pulling it out quickly, I jumped over a tackle, before flipping and bringing my heel down onto the back of it's neck, breaking it.

Landing, I was about to rush another, when I was grabbed from behind. One of it's arms pinned mine to my sides and the other tried to wrap my neck. Before it could, I moved my chin down to cover it and bit down hard on the offending limb. My teeth went through it's flesh easily, a chunk coming off in my mouth as it let me go, holding the hole in it's arm. I spit out the vile piece before running at the bleeding Kobold.

It swung it's arm almost lazily at me. I slashed at the inside of it's elbow with my shorter blade, spinning and bringing my sword across it's neck, blood spraying onto my face and neck. I looked back to see the rest of the Kobolds beating a hasty retreat, Bell killing two more before they left.

I jogged over to him, putting my blades away. "Bell-kun, how many did you get?"

"Eight before they ran. How about you?"

"Six. Now I'm covered in Kobold blood, but at least we got more stones." I laughed it off as we went to collect the stones.

It was late evening when we came out of the Guild and split our Valis. We decided to head to the Hostess before Bell went home. I could already hear the sound of drunken cheers and laughter.

As we got to the door, Syr greeted us, leading us to the bar.

"Thanks sis!" I shouted over the noise as she walked away. Miss Mia walked over with a huge plate of pasta for Bell and a large steak for me.

"So you're Hikari's friend? You're cute for an adventurer. He was telling us all about how he saved your tail." Bell mock glared at me as Miss Mia laughed, walking away to tend to other patrons.

"What? It's kinda true." I shrugged, smiling nervously. He smiled, eating the pasta in front of him.

"I guess you're right. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there to help." He bumped me with his shoulder as i started to eat my steak. Rare, just the way it should be.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while before Syr came back over.

"Looks like you two are enjoying yourselves." She smiled, eyeing Bell and the plates of food in front of us. "Looks like I'll be getting paid rather well tonight."

I rolled my eyes at her, ignoring her conversation with Bell in favor of my food.

Suddenly, all conversation in the tavern stopped. I looked up, seeing a group of people walk through the door. I recognized the red-head at the lead, Goddess Loki.

"So, they're here again. I swear you count on them coming in like you can count on the sun rising." I mumbled to myself through a mouth full of meat.

They took a seat at a large round table, before platters of food were set.

Bell and I went back to our food for a while before we heard a bang from the Loki table.

A werewolf with silver hair and a face tattoo started to talk. It was obvious he was drunk.

"Aiz, let's tell them about that thing." He said, the slur in his words prominent.

"That thing?" Aiz asked, sounding confused.

"You know." He continued loudly. "We let a bunch of Minotaurs escape on our way up. You killed the last one on the fifth, right? And there were these two kids who almost got slaughtered and ran away? Remember that?" He laughed loudly, wobbling in his chair.

Two dark skinned females, Amazons and twins from their appearance, laughed half-heartedly like they were only trying to humor him.

"How pathetic is that?" He laughs, slapping his knee.

"I think in that situation, they can hardly be blamed." Aiz said calmly.

"Enough, Bête." A green haired elf said to him. "It was our fault for letting the Minotaurs escape from the seventeenth floor. You should be ashamed."

He leans over the table, growling hostiley. "What's wrong with saying trash is trash?"

At this point, Bell has gone stiff as a board. I could see him clenching his fists in his lap. I decide it's time to act.

"Hey, Goddess Loki," I shouted to their table. "Could you muzzle him or something? He's spoiling my meal."

I could feel the eyes on me instantly. Some people laughed. Some looked like I had just died. All were surprised.

Bell looked at me with a mixture of awe, fear, and surprise.

"What was that, runt?" Bête asked, his ears flat against his head.

"Stupid AND deaf? Wow, you must really suck." I got up, growling. "You shouldn't brag about your mistakes."

He looked me up and down, then looked behind me, at Bell.

"It's you two. The kids themselves. You've got a lot of nerve, Mutt." I felt myself bristle at his words. Mixed races were sometimes looked down upon.

"A racist, too?" I snarled at him, feeling Bell stand beside me.

"What? You wanna fight?" Bête took a step towards us, but I could see my plan working. Miss Mia, Ryuu, Arnya, Chloe, and Lunoir moved to stand behind me.

"I'm not stupid like you. But you can fight some people closer to your level." I smirked, hearing Miss Mia crack her knuckles. Instantly, his face paled. I grabbed Bell's arm, leading him out. "Let's go, Bell-kun."

As we walked out of the tavern, I could here the sounds of shouts and bangs.

"What the hell was that?!" Bell shouted. "You could have gotten us killed!"

I stopped, turning to him. "Bell," He flinched as I left off the honorific. "I wasn't gonna let him talk crap about us. Especially not when we're gonna be better than he could ever be."

"So what do we do?" He asked, stunned.

"It's obvious, Bell-kun." I pumped my fist in the air. "We get stronger." I winked at him, a small blush dusting his cheeks as a result. "Let's head back to the dungeon."

"Right." Bell walked forward, towards Babel. My tail wagged as I followed after him.

Tired, hurt and bloody, I made my way back to The Hostess. My armor in tatters, my skin covered in bites and cuts and blood. I looked quite a sight. Bell wasn't too much better off. We went our separate ways to go home and heal before coming back.

"Koinu!" My goddess ran up to me, supporting me as we walked back inside. "What on earth happened?!"

I smiled up at her, blood dripping down my arms and out of my mouth.

"We're working to be the strongest."