Between Boundaries 10.1

Lili tried her best to relax, but she just couldn't. Under any circumstances, she would have loved to take her surroundings in. After all, this was the first time she left Orario and saw the outside world.

The request was surprising and unusual. Normally, the guild would make the requests and often, they tended to avoid the outside, because with Orario being the center of the world, the guild didn't like it when their "precious pieces" left city, since they might never come back. Still, Obsidian managed to fight through the paperwork to enable that. Officially, it was called an escort mission, with the rewards being money and "special items".

At least, that was what she heard from Lisa, since Lili avoided her teacher while he was in the manor and didn't follow him back home. She knew that it was wrong, but it felt too weird to be with him back then. Hell, it still felt like that.

It became even weirder when she walked through the halls, trying to clear her mind, only to see around the corner a crying Aiz and Riveria comforting her.

It was like that day conspired against her. But she got some interesting information out of it, as private as the conversation was. To be specific, she heard about the plans they and Obsidian had for Bell while the quest would be done.

Long story short, the rookie wasn't going to be part of it at all and instead Aiz would spend the time the team would be gone training him. Something about him being still a newbie and needing to learn.

So, only Bell was excluded and Lili had a feeling Obsidian had better reasons than simple him being level one.

Anyway, that left the original team of three, Welf, Lisa and Lili, with Obsidian outside of Orario. And the outside world was beautiful, Lili had to admit that. The roads were much wider than the ones in Orario, in her opinion, and the air was so much fresher. Not to mention the amount of greenery in the area. Trees, flowers, bushes, all of them were scattered over the wide area, yet it didn't feel stuffy at all. But more importantly, it was the sound that was different.

Except of the rolling of the wheels of the carriage, it was rather peaceful. Leaves rustling, birds chirping...the complete opposite to the ever busy Orario.

Under normal circumstances, she would be easily able to relax.

The reason she couldn't relax? She was stuck with her teacher in a single carriage. Even the driver and the horses could feel the tension, as she saw them sweat nervously. Lili couldn't talk with Welf or Lisa either, since they were in a separate carriage all together.

It was easy to see that Obsidian wanted to force a confrontation. The girl sighed and shook her head.

No use in delaying the inevitable any longer. Tapping on the wood of the window, she glanced back, letting out a pop with her lips. When her teacher glanced at her as well, she tensed up. But still, she powered through and cleared her throat awkwardly.

"So," she let out awkwardly. Eloquent as ever, Lili thought dryly to herself. Still, it was plenty enough to get Obsidian turn to her completely, tapping his lap with an amused smile.

"So," he repeated jokingly, before taking a deep breath and leaning back on his seat. "If you got something to say, go ahead. I'll listen."

The girl clicked her tongue at his calm words. Of course he would make her go first. With a sigh, she nervously touched her finger tips together.

"I can explain...why...well..." She slumped down her seat as she bit her lips. "Why I avoided you."

Then, she fell silent, with her teacher staring at her patiently. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes. How was she supposed to explain it? She couldn't find the words, a way to give him proper reasons. But then an idea came to her.

She should just start from the beginning. Letting out a small giggle, she opened her eyes and looked at Obsidian, who tilted his head in confusion."

"Did you know how creeped out I was when I first met you?" She muttered in a melancholy tone, staring up at the ceiling of the carriage. Obsidian in turn let out a dry snort and crossed his arms.

"I tend to do that to people, yes," he said with some amusement and Lili shook her head with a grin.

"Well, I wasn't an exception. And it just got worse. Paying for me, guiding me to a run down district..." She shuddered and hugged herself playfully. "My instincts were screaming at me that you would be the worst person I would ever meet in my life."

As she expected, the man actually chuckled to this. With his usual humor, that was a given. However, Lili hugged her legs and her expression became softer as she looked down on the ground.

"But then...you started to help me. Save me, even," she said in a quiet voice and closed her eyes, memories surfacing to the front of her mind. "You gave me a real home, gave me food and clothes, treated me...like a decent human. Not to mention the people you introduced me too. The friends I have now. The resources you gave me." She opened her eyes and looked at her teacher, smile widening. "The love you gave me. For all of these things...I can be nothing but thankful."

She could tell his eyes watered up a bit, but he stayed quiet, knowing she wasn't done yet. Putting her feet back on the ground, she leaned back on the seat, head leaning back as she stared up.

"And even during the battle, you were so cool." She blushed and let out a small giggle, before throwing her arms up in excitement. "I mean, your Static was so much more powerful and you didn't even keep in shape! I can only dream of what you could do if you refined it again."

Slowly however, her smile fell, looking down with a solemn expression.

"And yet...yet..." A shuddering breath escaped her, her voice barely a whisper. "You looked so weak afterward. So..."

She stopped herself, not wanting to hurt him more than she already did. Still, she forced herself to look up and look him into his pained eyes, holding back a sob on her own.

"I...I didn't know what to feel, when I saw you like that." She shook her head, letting out a hollow scoff. "At first I felt disgusted, but that was probably from the barfing. Then, I was disappointed. At you, then at myself. Then I was just confused and.." Letting out a deep breath, she held her right hand against her forehead with a frown. "It was chaotic in my head. I...couldn't face you like this. At least not without being able to explain myself."

With those words said, she fell silent, slumping down her seat as she looked back down. But now, she had a smile on her face. She finally reached her answer for her behavior, now that she spoke out her thoughts at him. It wasn't a good one, but she found the truth. Because of that, she chuckled slightly, before twirling her hand at him with a side glance.

"I...guess I saw you as an unbeatable hero. My beacon of hope. An idealistic...thing I could shape myself after." She shook her head, smile still in place. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have. Not after hearing your story. But seeing is believing in my case."

There. She revealed her heart to him. All she could wait for was his judgment. Still, she couldn't help but close her eyes in shame, as tears dropped from her face and get one last thing in.

"I'm sorry for being a disappointment," she muttered. And how could she be anything but?

She never got those friends on her own. This power. This happiness. It was given to her. Even her level up was only because of the goodness that was Obsidian.

However, instead of being allowed to wallow in her self hate, a hand brushed past her face, wiping off the tears. Opening her eyes in confusion, she saw her teacher kneeling in front of her, smiling at her as he wiped the tears of his pale skin.

"That's my line," he said with a smile, his eyes a bit red from his own tears. At the same time, Lili gaped at him in disbelief, before standing up with a glare.

"You aren't a disappointment! I was just being stupid!" She shouted, hands curled up into fists. But the man simply shook his head, and gently pushed her back down on the seat. Biting her lip, she decided to stay quiet and let him talk, though her eyes were still narrowed in a glare.

With a chuckle, he went back on his seat, with his left hand still on her shoulder.

"No, you weren't," he replied in a quiet voice and his face distorted in discomfort. "After hearing what you said...your reaction was natural." He sighed and shook his head. "Guess I wanted your imagination to be true as well." He raised his right hand with a flat face just as she opened her mouth. "And don't lie, it isn't true. Not completely at least."

Lili pressed her lips together. She wanted to object, she really did. But she just went on a tandem on how her expectations were too much. She couldn't just forget her realization like that.

It didn't mean she liked how he talked himself down again.

Anyway, the man put his hand away and leaned back on the seat, looked very tired all of a sudden.

"I always tried to act cooler than I was. To be someone I wasn't and I tricked you because of that. Because..." He paused and glanced at her with a soft smile. "Because what you think is important to me. And..." His smile fell as he looked away from her, eyes fogging up with memories. At the same time, he began to scratch his chest with his right hand. "It reminded me of old days."

While she was touched by his words, causing her tears to well up again, she couldn't help but focus on his final words. Tilting her head in curiosity, she forced back her tears.

"Old days?" She asked softly, but to her disappointment, Obsidian shook his head after blinking the mist in his eyes away.

"That's a topic for another day. Suffice to say, I should be more honest. To myself and you." He took a deep breath and grinned widely at her. "And...thank you. For your words. Really."

This time, she couldn't stop herself. Letting out a single sniff, she rubbed her face off from tears, before falling into her father, wrapping her arms around tightly. Obsidian only hesitated for a moment, before returning the hug, just as tight.

"Thank you, dad," Lili muttered into his shoulder, her voice muffled. Then, separating herself a little, she grinned at him. "We cool?"

He laughed lightly and ruffled her hair with his right hand, causing her to giggle.

"No problem. And yes, we are," he replied warmly. Lili in turn tilted her head, hope blossoming up in her chest.

"You're okay with me calling you that?" She asked quietly and her grin threatened to split her face when he nodded.

"Sure. I mean, you are what I imagine a daughter would be."

"Annoying and a punching bag?" The Pallum asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow. Obsidian let out a snort and gently poked her forehead.

"Exactly."

With that, the two of them shared a giggle, before releasing their hug. However, Lili didn't want to stop the contact just yet and instead lied down on his lap. She grinned at his confusion and Obsidian let out a surrendering sigh when she didn't move an inch, instead gently rubbing her head.

"I guess Liliruca Noir has a nice touch to it..." The girl muttered, her eyes closed as she relaxed under his soothing touch.

"Better than Obsidian Arde," he replied with a snort and Lili frowned, wiggling her right hand at him.

"Eh, the sound doesn't make me barf, so it's not that bad."

They chuckled at their little gag, before silence returned, only the sound of the horse's hooves filling the air. Still, Lili opened her eyes slightly at her father, smiling softly at him.

"You're still my hero, you know?" She said quietly, this time not as a result of unrealistic worshiping, but as a fact.

"Hm," he replied in a tired tone, rubbing his chest with his right hand.

The Pallum frowned a bit.

Obsidian Noir wasn't fine. Not completely. The girl realized that. There was too much emotional baggage for him to just simply shrug off.

Still, Lili felt she did a lot to help him out. More than she did in the last months. Because of that, she didn't think much of his actions at the moment. He was probably tired from the past events. Though the chest rubbing seemed a bit random. In the end Lili shrugged, waving it off as a strong itch.

Between Boundaries 10.2

According to Obsidian's predictions, it would take an hour at most to arrive at Melen. For Lili, it felt a hell of a lot longer than that. Though most of it was probably due to the awkwardness and the heart to heart that followed. After that, time flew past her like a swallow through the air. Sure, their carriage at times moved next to Welf's and Lisa's, but they were even more bored than the Pallum. The latter even took a nap, so the amount of deep conversations didn't rise during that. Small talk, sure, but that was it.

Suffice to say, nothing worth noting happened. At the very least however, the air between Lili and Obsidian was much lighter than before and the girl would say they even grew closer than before, if that were possible.

Anyway, the girl sniffed the air as she leaned out of the window and almost choked at the smell, before she pinched her nose shut. Here she thought that being able to smell the salt in the air near the ocean was an exaggeration. She sent a glare at the grinning Obsidian before rolling her eyes and taking in her surroundings.

The mostly brown colored town was pretty much split in two by a large route. It wasn't as big as Orario, but Orario was gigantic and dense anyway. But what caught her attention the most was what the road led to.

The ocean. It was far away at the horizon, but it was still a sight to behold. A sight she never saw outside of books.

The blue was more fragrant and more beautiful than described. The waves she could barely see were calm, but she knew that they could become terrifyingly destructive depending on nature's mood. Not to mention how far it stretched, with all the ships on it like ants on grass.

However, those things didn't register to the Pallum.

All Lili saw was how big the world actually was and that she was finally able to step into the open field that was always denied to her. Her eyes watered up at the thought of how much she could still do in her young life, thanks to Obsidian, but she quickly wiped the tears off and took a deep breath.

Sadly, she wasn't fast enough.

"Try not to cry when we stand in front of our clients," he said in amusement and Lili whipped her head around, giving him a glare.

"I'm not crying," she said, while furiously blinking away any remnants of tears in her eyes. Her father in turn raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Not saying it's bad, just warning you," he said casually, making Lili fume as she sat back down and crossed her arms with a huff.

Sadly, she didn't got more time to pout because the carriage came to a stop and the coachman turned around from the front with a wide grin.

"Alright, we're here!" The man extended his right arm dramatically. "Welcome to Melen!"

Well, at the very least Lili could move her legs again while being mad at Obsidian. Swinging the door open, she jumped out and began to shake her legs. At the same time, she cracked her knuckles, making crack noises at the same time as her father cracked his neck a few times. It was telling of how long they were sitting that he also did the same to his toes, for reasons Lili never wanted to know.

The two of them weren't the only ones doing their routine of stretching and cracking.

"Ohhh..." Lisa groaned out as she bent back, before snapping back as she leaned forward with a sigh and rubbed her back. "My spine is killing me..."

Welf, while stretching his arms, smirked at the blonde.

"How old are you again?"

"Old enough to know that the question is childish," she snarked back, putting her hands on her hips. Before they could escalate however, Obsidian stepped between them with a tired sigh and rubbed his face.

"Children, please." Ignoring their loud objections to being called that, the teacher pointed with his finger into the town. "Let's get a move on. The sooner we can meet with the client, the sooner we can eat and get comfortable seats." He paused and scratched his chin with a thoughtful look. "Or a couch. Been a while since I lied down on one."

Lili had to smirk at that comment and crossed her arms.

"If you weren't going to punch me, I would make a joke about your age."

"Gotta love Pavlov," he shrugged, similar smirk on his face and Lili raised her hands in mock surrender, shaking her head in amusement.

"I'll pretend I know who that is."

"Better for everyone involved."

With that comment said and Lisa shrugging when Lili and Welf looked at her, Obsidian led the way as they walked into the town.

As expected, it was not as...modern as Orario. Not that it was a dump or anything, but the buildings appeared to be mostly made by wood. Though the Pallum had to admit, they appeared to be sturdy, just like the people walking around or yelling loudly from their wooden stalls.

Well, as long as they could live in them, who was Lili to judge that they used wood?

Anyway, walking through the streets, carefully navigating through the busy masses, Lisa walked a bit faster and stood to Obsidian's left. Crossing her arms behind her head, she grinned at him.

"Now that we finally arrived..." Her grin fell and she narrowed her eyes. "Any reason you didn't bring Bell with us? And don't lie, I left my patience with the carriage."

Lili winced at the tone, but she could understand. As much as she respected Obsidian, Bell was family. Naturally, she objected at his exclusion when the teacher told them how the team would be split up. Seeing Bell so crushed didn't help the tempers at the time either and nobody really believed him about having to be at least level two. Mentioning the training and taking care of Hestia barely worked, if at all.

However, once Aiz came into play, the rookie crumbled as fast as a cookie in milk. The prospect of personal training with his crush and a famous adventurer? There was no way he wouldn't bite.

Because of that, Lisa begrudgingly agreed and Lili kept quiet about Aiz' abilities as a trainer, which were basically non existent.

Luckily, Obsidian didn't want anymore drama than she did, so her father lowered his head, his voice growing quieter.

"Frustration of being singled out plus desire to catch up with you and Aiz should be good training motivator."

The girls' eyes widened. Right, his skill. Lili almost forgot. Then, she had to grin like Lisa. That was rather sneaky of him. Bell would "suffer" short term in terms of self confidence, but long term? He would catch up in no time.

"Did I miss anything?"

The male voice made them turn around and they looked at Welf, who crossed his arms with a frown. For a moment, Lili blinked, before letting out a quiet "oh".

They never told him, did they? And it wasn't like they could tell him now, out in the public. However, reliable as ever, her father figured out a way to do this.

In the time she turned around to him, Obsidian seemed to have scribbled something down on his hand with an odd looking small, shining stick, which she assumed replaced quill. With the ink on his right palm, he showed the blacksmith the small message after gesturing for him to get closer.

Bell has a special skill that increases his stat growth. Don't tell.

Welf's eyes widened in shock, but then he shook his head and with a thin mouth, nodded grimly. Nodding back, Obsidian clapped his hands together, letting out a small lightning spark, before letting his arms fall to his side, the message burned away from his hands.

With that potential war starter gone, Lili tilted her head at her father.

"So, who was our client again?"

"That would be me."

The mature, female voice made the Pallum snap her head to the front and she could instantly tell who that was.

Short, messy and blonde hair that barely reached the neck, which were dirty due to weather and sea water. Her muscles were rather well defined underneath the brown shirt and black pants, most likely coming from working at a port. The scar across her face, diagonal starting from the upper right, and a few other scars on her arms were surprising, but not too unexpected. The give away however, were her eyes. Deep blue, but it was the shine that gave it away. It screamed greed, but more of a good natured kind.

The same kind Lisa had in her own eyes.

She may have no name, but Lili knew for a fact that was Lisa's mother.

The woman bowed, her right hand above her heart and closed her eyes respectfully.

"Lord Noir. It has been a while," she said warmly, but politely. Obsidian rubbed his chest with a lazy grin.

"Hello, Isabella." He pointed with his right hand at her head. "Nice hair cut."

She blushed a bit and rubbed the back of her head, a bit embarrassed.

"Well, long hair isn't really easy to maintain so close to the-"

"MOM!"

The scream caught everyone off guard and the next thing she knew, a blur went past Lili and smashed into the woman, knocking her to the ground.

Dead silence filled the air and Welf pointed at the half conscious woman with a sweatdrop.

"Did she just kill her own mother?" He asked in an incredulous tone and Lili let out a nervous giggle at the sound of pained groaning and Lisa rubbing her face into her mother's chest, completely ignoring her plight.

Obsidian only let out a sigh and raised the merchant girl by the neck of her shirt. Only then did she realized what she just did and blushed furiously.

"Now, now. Let's do this in a more appropriate place," Lili's father calmly stated, as Isabella managed to stand up and shake her head to get the dizziness out. She only managed to stumble a little bit, a smile just barely shaking as she threw her thumb over her shoulder.

"Well, we don't have to go far. Follow me." She turned to her daughter, grin in place. "And I missed you too, my little moneymaker.

This only caused Lisa to blush even more, causing the group to laugh. With that done, they followed the merchant. A few minutes later, with Lisa talking her mother's ear off about basically everything, they came to a stop. Obsidian let out a whistle and Lili had to admit that it was justified.

"Renting an entire warehouse? Respect."

It was rather big as well, one of the bigger ones in the area. It was one of the few buildings that was actually made out of stone. It made sense, since important goods at to be stored reliably and stone was more reliable than most wood. If Lili had to guess, eight or so of Obsidian's house could fit in there, with four being the foundation. The gates were closed and to her surprise, she couldn't hear a thing from it.

Anyway, the woman bowed like before at the man.

"Your words honor me, milord."

For some reason, Obsidian's smile fell and it looked like he was about to say something. Instead, he sighed as he rubbed his chest.

"Alrighty, let's meet the team."

Isabella grinned and without further ado, stepped into the busy warehouse after opening the gates with a key. Then she clapped her hands loudly.

"Boys, guess who is here!" She shouted over the noise and all workers, consisting of humans, dwarfes and cat and wolf people of all genders, turned around towards her. When they followed her arm she used to gesture at Obsidian, all of their eyes widened.

Then immediately, they all dropped, or rather gently put down, what they were doing and as if they teleported, knelt before her father in an ordered line, as if they were soldiers.

Not to mention the pure cheer and happiness they radiated as they all shouted at the same time.

"Lord Noir!" "Milord is here!" "One of the Emperors!" "How was your trip?!"

While Lisa and her mother giggled, Lili shared a glance with Welf, both leaning away from the scene with nervous sweating, and nodded at the same time.

Yup. That was freaky as hell.

Then, her gaze moved over to Obsidian, and as expected, he didn't like the attention either. Though instead of exasperation, she was surprised to see his mouth thinned and his left hand curled up into a fist.

And yet again, he rubbed his chest for some reason.

However, the moment vanished as it came, suddenly, and Lili decided it had to be the light playing tricks on her.

Smiling at the group, he raised his hands in a placating manner.

"Easy there. Just your average adventurer here for a job."

Lili raised her eyebrow at her father, then rolled her eyes with a huff. Level six wasn't exactly average, but whatever.

The workers looked at each other, knowing smirks on their face, and raised themselves. Then, they gave their polite greetings and went back to work. During all that, none of them forgot to address him like he was a king.

Though by now, Lili was sure he actually was one and that Obsidian underplayed the amount of influence he had, if that was possible.

Anyway, now that the Pallum was inside, she was surprised by the lack of boxes in here. Sure, there were some crates here in there, but nothing that would warrant a warehouse. And most of them didn't even have anything inside.

Not that it bothered either Obsidian or Isabella, while Welf's and Lisa's eyes slowly widened in realization, before slumping their shoulders.

That was never a good sign, Lili thought dryly.

Either way, reaching the center of the building, Isabella started to unfold a scroll she took out and presented in on top of a crate the group surrounded.

However, midway, Obsidian raised his hand and stopped her.

"Wait," he said cautiously and gestured around. "Everything secure?"

Isabella in turn smiled and nodded.

"Top security. As ordered, only the god of this city knows what we are delivering." She raised a finger and pointed at the closed door, before shaking it as her smile widened. "And we follow the protocols."

Lili's father nodded and Isabella finished unfolding a scroll, revealing a list of items. As the Pallum's eyes glazed over the words, she blinked. Turning to Welf, he shrugged, equally confused.

So she wasn't the only one at the table who had no idea what those words meant. However, after checking the list a second time, her eyes landed on two words that awoke memories in her and Welf grinned like a child on his birthday.

Proto Adamantium. Vibranium Steel.

The metals Lisa once talked about and praised highly. If they were capable of doing the feats she talked about, complete indestructibility and shock absorption and rejection, this would make her mother swim in money.

Still, now that her interest was gained, Lili pointed at the list with a frown.

"No idea what the other items are."

Isabella smiled in a motherly manner and waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh, just normal stuff."

It certainly didn't sound normal, though perhaps Boundary was just a whole different world.

Most on the list were household items, useful, but not world breaking. Certain books, ranging from fiction to knowledge, though that wasn't anything new. Household items, some of them using magic to work, like a mixer or a heater. But others were more impressive.

The typing machine sounded useful rather useful, as well as this calculator. Both of these would make the life of a guild member much easier, in terms of doing paperwork.

Alternative power sources, like those "solar cells" were always nice to have.

But those things didn't hold a candle to the last three items, though Welf focused more on the first. Not with as much enthusiasm as with the metals, but still intrigued by the concept.

A "laser rifle". A weapon, that looked like a crossbow, without the cross. Instead, it had a metal tube and the arrow was replaced by a specifically shaped monster crystal. Inserted in the right place, it would shoot out a beam of pure magical energy. It sounded less destructive than a magic sword, but it was easier to produce and still packed enough power to deal with weaker monsters and at least do something useful against bigger ones. Lili wasn't surprised that Welf wasn't that happy about those weapons, but he begrudgingly had to admire the work and thought put into the weapon.

Still, the last two items were bigger world changers in her eyes.

A "phone" and a "camera".

On paper, it was simple. One was used to do long distance communications in a fast manner, either by letter on the "display" or vocally. The other took pictures, as close to the real thing as possible, and saved them. They could even be printed by one of the other items on the list.

Anyway, the inner workings went over Lili's head and Welf only seemed to somewhat understand some of it. However, unlike him, she knew about rhe sheer utility of those things had.

With the camera, one could easily record anything. Monsters? Adventures? Historical places? All of these things could now be accurately shown, not depending on mortal artistic skill anymore.

With the phone, connections could be made easier. Deals could be made faster and people could warn each other faster if they could see a storm brewing or something. Not to mention in battle. No longer would people be so reliant on loud voices or the speed of scouts. If it worked in the dungeon, information could be gathered faster, with less risk of the information getting lost for several reasons.

Lili gulped. These items...

"I sure hope there is more security, because people will kill for this," she whispered in a faint tone, the same dread she felt when she realized the danger that surrounded Bell nowadays.

Anywho, Isabella shook her head with a casual smile.

"Lord Noir is here." She said with confidence and put her hands on her hips. "Not to mention we kept this a secret. As far as anyone is concerned, we are just your average merchants."

"Don't jinx it," Obsidian immediately chided her with a frown and crossed his arms. "Even if my family is good, they aren't perfect. They make mistakes, including myself."

The woman's smile wavered and bowed her head with respect.

"Apologies, milord."

Again, Obsidian rubbed his chest and by now, Lili knew something was off. Was it about the conversation from before? With the expectations?

Biting her lip, the Pallum knew she couldn't talk to him now. All she could do, was squeeze his left hand reassuringly. Glancing at her, he smiled softly.

"How in the hell did you create this?" Welf asked all of a sudden and pointed at the list. "I mean, I have to see it first to believe it, but still!"

In response, Obsidian shrugged casually.

"Luciel Lightbringer has a masters degree in Applied Bullshit."

At that, silence reigned, and this time, Lisa and her mother were not excluded from the club of blank stares filled with incomprehension. Lili's father blinked and sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Mystery, Blacksmith and lots of Intelligence." He paused and tilted his head left and right, a bit unsure. "Well, Blacksmith was not all on her, but she did most of the job."

While the Boundary natives let out an understanding "ah", Welf gaped openly while the Pallum sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

The entire Gaia Family was filled with geniuses in their own right, Lili just knew. Then she noticed something and turned to her father with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, why don't you have those items?"

In turn, Obsidian shrugged nonchalantly.

"We didn't want Boundary to gain attention to soon and we didn't have a reliable infrastructure here yet." He waved his hand in boredom. "Besides, I don't really need a phone to communicate with my family and I don't believe in cameras."

Lili's eyebrows moved further up, hidden by her hair now.

"Why?" She asked in a confused tone and Obsidian shrugged yet again.

"Not my thing." He then raised his own eyebrow at her. "What, you wanna have one?"
The Pallum blushed a bit and scratched her cheek with a light giggle.

"Making pictures would be nice..." She muttered. Then, she felt a hand on her head. Looking up, she saw Obsidian ruffle her head with a grin. She pouted in turn, but made no movements smacking the arm away.

Well, she needed to figure out how to use a camera then. Her grin fell when she realized something.

"You said this quest would take several days. Why?" She asked, knowing full well that the way back didn't take any longer.

"Because the ship will arrive in several days." Obsidian replied dryly after removing his hand and looking into the round. "We will stand here and guard it. We guard it when they double check everything and then we guard it on the way to Orario."

Lili's eyes widened, now understanding her team's previous reaction. Speaking of which, their current reaction was groaning.

"Damn, I knew it..." Lisa muttered, clicking her tongue, before her voice gained a whining tone. "It sounds boring!"

Obsidian's eye twitched in annoyance before he sucked in air through his teeth.

"What is it with people and jinxing shit?" He pointed at the team. "If we get ambushed, I have full beat up rights."

"You mean mocking rights...right?" Welf asked with a raised hand, nervously chuckling. Obsidian's flat stare made him stop very quickly.

"I know what I said."

The trio's head fell and Isabella's mother didn't help them feel better at all. So much for excitement. Naturally, Obsidian had to say the most cliché thing ever as well. Looking around, he had a lazy grin on his face.

"Anyone got some cards?"

"We have Monopoly," Isabella said politely at his casual request and Welf raised his eyebrow at that.

"What is that?"

"A merchant game, so no deal," Obsidian cut in before Lisa's mother could explain. Then, he turned to her, pointing with a finger. "You got Uno?"

"Boring choice, but as you wish," she said with a shrug and pulled out a deck of cards out of her pocket.

"You never played Uno, did you?" Obsidian asked amused and rubbed his hands together. "With special rules?"

At that, the woman blinked, before sighing and putting her hand on her right cheek.

"Oh dear."

Immediately, Lili raised her arm with a neutral face.

"Can't we chill at the beach in the south?" She asked politely and got an incredulous look as a response.

"What under 'guard duty' don't you people understand?" He asked in disbelief, making quotation marks with his fingers when he said guard duty, before turning to the merchant girl, authority in his eyes. "Lisa, you patrol first. I gotta explain the rules to them."

Lisa's shoulders slumped down and groaned.

"Aye, aye..."

"I'll come with you for now. We still need to catch up."

Immediately, she perked up at her mother's warm request and hugged her arm as she literally dragged the woman away. At the same time, Obsidian cleared his throat to gain their attention, already mixing the cards. The Pallum rolled her eyes after sharing a suffering glance with Welf.

"Gods, I hope Bell has a better time than us," Lili muttered before sitting down as chairs were provided to them.

Meanwhile, a certain rabbit got kicked in the face yet again. This time, he at least managed to stay conscious AND didn't suffer from a concussion, so the Sword Princess actually improved in holding back.

Between Boundaries 10.3

The Pallum knew it wasn't polite, the way she leaned her cheek into her right hand, her left hand lazily holding her cards, but by the gods, she did not care. The last few days, they have done nothing but patrol or play cards. She couldn't believe it, but she was missing the bitch that was the dungeon.

At the very least, she could get a proper workout done, unlike here. Obsidian prohibited them from even doing sparring because they had to "stay focused". Lili wanted to tell him where to shove his focus in, but she knew he had a point. Therefore, she tried to suffer through the boredom that was Uno.

At the beginning, it was somewhat fun. And with that, it was fun to see other people freak out in various ways when they had to draw cards before they could win the game or even switch a winning hand to a terrible hand.

One of her favorite reactions had to be Welf's. One card away from Uno and the other three players, two of the team that weren't on patrol and Isabella, pretty much comboed him into taking half a dozen cards. Suffice to say, he gave up by not even bothering to draw and instead slam his head against the crate a couple of times, before going away and sulking around in a corner.

Still, the game lost its charm rather quickly and the adventurers didn't have much to do. Since they were stuck with guard duty, they weren't even allowed to walk around too far away from the warehouse. In case of Lisa and Welf, neither of them could sell or forge stuff respectively, so the three of them were just lying or sitting around, clearly bored out of their mind. Hell, they had to sleep in the same warehouse as well. The...make shift beds only did so much for her poor back.

They could have helped with the preparation of the warehouse and the delivery...if it weren't already all finished up a day after they arrived. Thus, there was nothing left to occupy them with.

Lisa and Welf sat next to each other, leaning against the wall as they stared at the ceiling and talked about prices weapons could have. Lili was not interested in that, so she spent her time lying on her stomach on an empty crate, that was on the left of their crate, her legs lightly kicking around in the air.

Her father was currently patrolling the outside, though since they were the same routes, not much excitement there either. Because of all of that, she let out a long suffering sigh and decided to state one simple fact.

"This is the most boring mission in the world," the Pallum drawled out and turned around on her back, her legs hanging around limply. Her two teammates let out an agreeing, equally bored, "hm", as their shoulders slumped.

In that moment, their client entered the hall and made her way towards them, a pitying smile on her face. When she got close enough, she crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Well, I could tell you a bit about Boundary's history and culture."

Their reactions were instant. Lili shot up and sat down on her crate, leaning forward with folded hands with a hopeful expression. At the same time, the other two straightened up their backs and leaned forward as well.

"Please do," Welf begged and Lisa nodded.

"I already know it, but I take anything," she said in a pained voice. Her mother giggled and sat down in front of them. Crossing her legs, she clapped her hands together and pressed her lips together in thought.

"Well...I'll be blunt." She giggled awkwardly and scratched her right cheek a bit. "We...used to be somewhat barbaric, compared to our modern times now."

Lili raised her eyebrow at that and Welf tilted his head. That sounded rather weird, especially after hearing about all those inventions.

"I can see your confusion," Isabella replied with a smile. Then, she closed her eyes after taking a deep breath. "To be fair, we didn't live like cavemen or anything, but...tribal life was more common than usual. I met my fair share myself, back when Lisa was a little girl."

The mother gave her daughter a teasing grin. The latter blushed and looked away, causing Welf to snicker at her quietly. However, Lili crossed her arms with a frown. She knew about the whole "tribe" thing that was going on back in the old days, but the way she phrased it…

The Pallum tilted her head.

"You make it sound like you weren't part of them."

"I wasn't," Isabella confirmed, sounding rather pleased as she crossed her arms and nodded. "I am one of the few city born people of Boundary. Well, less cities and more fortresses scattered across the lands. Still a lot more secure, advanced and all that compared to the tribes that were kept outside due to lack of space." Her smile fell and she sighed, shaking her head. "Suffice to say, it caused frictions and cultivated the mentality of 'us versus them', doing everything to survive."

That caused Lili and Welf to widen their eyes. Both of them had heard about the monster problem and lack of deities to give blessings around. Hearing that stationary settlements, from which cities spawned, existed in such dangerous territory, they were naturally surprised.
Lisa on the other hand didn't seem that impressed, but Lili took it for granted, being native and hearing about this stuff herself. Maybe even seen herself.

"How were there cities? I mean, I can imagine the tribes, but the cities go a bit over my head, from what I heard," Welf asked, crossing his arms. The merchant folded her hands and nodded with a smile.

"Understandable. Lord Noir told you about the monster problem?" When both the Pallum and the blacksmith grunted out their confirmation, Isabella stood up and put her hands behind her back as she began to wander around in the small circle they had. "Well, without any...gods..." She trailed off and Lili could see a flash of a deep frown on her face. It vanished as it came, quickly, and the woman smiled at them again as she turned to them. "We had to rely on powerful warriors. Veteran hunters, sword fighters, all the like, that were the foundation of those cities." She let out a sigh, letting out an awkward cough as she scratched the back of her head. "It also created a sort of… caste system."

The word made Lili narrow her eyes instantly and she couldn't help but grit her teeth. Welf frowned as well, but he didn't have the same intensity as she had, as memories of the past flowed into her head, that could be defined as a caste system itself.

Naturally, she was not pleased to hear that about Boundary, as she took a deep breath and pressed her lips together.

"That does not sound great," she said in a flat tone and the two Boundary natives winced at her tone. Even Welf blinked at her in surprise, but she didn't care too much. Still, she did her best to reign in the bad memories and after a short while, she visibly calmed down, her grip on her arms lessened.

Once she was visibly relaxed, Isabella leaned against a wall to their right and looked down on the ground with a sad expression.

"It wasn't, but it was justified." She raised her right hand in defense when Lili bristled up and received a stern expression, making the girl back down in shame. "After all, those who contributed the most for the safety of those cities, they would deserve the most luxury." Isabella gave them a small shrug. "Naturally, the defenses weren't perfect. Casualties still happened, but the walls held."

Lili's mouth thinned at the image. Hour long fights, with only their experience and suboptimal weapons they had, against hordes of monsters or singular titans hammering against their walls. The relief of repelling such threats, only to have to wait for the next...

It wasn't greed or pride that motivated them. It was despair. Lili could understand that. With this in mind, she calmed her mind and then leaned forward, hands gripping the edge of the crate she was sitting on.

"Where do you fit in?" She asked quietly and Isabella chuckled warmly as she gestured around with her arms wide open.

"There is a reason I work at this port." She pointed at her chest. "It's in my blood and history."

"Port city, then?" Welf guessed, hands folded behind his head and the mother nodded.

"Yup." Clapping her hands together, she sat back down on the crate she previously occupied. "Though the ships rarely went to other continents, due to the dangers around Boundary, fishing near the shore and selling in towards the inland was an important job. Being part of organizing it and being a merchant gave me a solid middle spot in the hierarchy."

Lili let out an impressed grunt. That was interesting and made sense to her. With monsters on the lands, agriculture would have limited success. Therefore, fishing and limited trade with other, nearby islands or other shores of Boundary, were the second best thing they had. The rarity of reaching other continents would also explain the scarce information Orario had on Boundary to begin with.

Either way, the woman took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling as she leaned back.

"Anyway...development based on monster crystals was limited. The crystals we did get our hands on, were used on the essentials. No time for advancement, when survival was in the front of our minds. At most, they were used for weapons. Otherwise, they were used as energy resources in order to survive the winters." Letting out a sigh, she shook her head. "Because of that...we were a stagnating civilization, if you could call it that. Splintered as well."

Welf let out a sympathizing wince and even Lisa seemed sad about the knowledge. Lili could see that, as she bit her lips. One couldn't call something like that living or a proper country.

Still, she couldn't help but smile, knowing that was in the past.

"But that changed ten years ago, didn't it?" She asked in a knowing and warm tone and the merchant nodded almost ecstatically at the Pallum.

"Indeed!" She exclaimed and couldn't help but giggle as she covered her mouth with her right hand. "The ones we would call many titles arrived. Saviors. Demons. Guardians..." Removing her hand, she bowed dramatically, spreading her arms out. "But in the end, we settled on Emperors."

Emperor. For some reason, seeing her father with that title, Lili couldn't help but feel it seemed...wrong.

"Why Emperors though? Do they decide everything?" Welf asked, raising his hand as he tilted his head. This time, Isabella hesitated a bit, but Lisa shot her arm up like an arrow, taking over for a moment.

"They have assigned councils. But most of the time they, and by extension the people, go with whatever they are saying," she explained, twirling with her right hand when everyone looked at her. Lili couldn't help but raise her eyebrow.

"Sounds kinda dangerous," she admitted. Considering she lived with one of them and saw how he was, she knew for a fact that her father wasn't perfect. The shield girl's response was to shrug casually.

"Eh, we have faith in them."

Even Lisa's mother gave her a flat stare, causing the girl to blush. Rolling her eyes, the merchant smiled politely at Welf and Lili.

"Besides, they are teaching the council the ropes in order for Boundary to become less dependent on them." She closed her eyes and nodded a few times. "After all, they do deserve to return to their old days as simple adventurers."

The Pallum's eyes widened as a memory resurfaced.

It reminded me of old days.

There was a reason Obsidian left Boundary. A reason he disliked his current self. Because he was a simple man, who was not suited for being an Emperor. He did it because his country needed one, not because he wanted to.

And an adventurer was more in line with being a hero than a leader of a country. Lili tried her best not to show her sadness and instead put up a fake smile, as she leaned forward with interest.

"So what exactly did they do?" She asked with only minor twitches to hide her emotions. No one seemed to notice, as they focused on the merchant, who let out a quiet chuckle.

"What didn't they do?" She asked in a good natured tone and raised her hands to count. "They united Boundary, making sure that the 'us' stands for the civilized people, of all races, and the 'them' are the mindless monsters. They removed the Caste System and made sure that everyone would be able to contribute. Not to mention the organized armies, the teamwork and pushing our mentality to focus on improvement, not only on survival..." She waved with her hands and then put them on her lap as she smiled softly. "They basically created Boundary as it is today. Considering it only took them a decade, and that they were not that old when they started, it is truly a miracle."

Hearing her count off his accomplishments in detail, Lili couldn't help but feel awe for her father, that she barely managed to restrain from becoming hero worship. Having everything he had done, summed up like that...it was amazing that Lili sometimes forgot that his strength and level were not for show. Glancing at her teammates, she could see Welf's wide eyes and respect, while Lisa even seemed to swoon a bit at the information.

Lili hoped for her friend that it was out of completely platonic reasons. Before she could make her displeasure known, as she frowned, Isabella's words got her attention again.

"Though I still wonder where they even came from..."

Barely muttered, the Pallum still caught the words and turned at the mother with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh?"

The merchant blinked and giggled awkwardly as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well, it's just that they-"

She never got to finish her words. The moment as she was about to finish, the doors to the warehouse opened in a blast, almost blowing them off the hinges. Startled, the adventurers jumped up, weapons drawn in a second, and with sweat running down their skin, they were combat ready.

For just a moment, because they instantly relaxed when they saw who it was.

"Knock knock, privacy police here," Obsidian commented dryly, as he put his right foot down on the ground after his front kick.

Suffice to say, Lili was peeved at the interruption and the scare. However, only Welf shared her reaction, as Isabella sheathed her dagger (whenever she pulled that one out) and immediately bowed in apology, followed by literally everyone else who came from Boundary.

"My apologies, milord!"

"Save it," Obsidian waved Isabella off and threw his thumb over his shoulder. "Goods are here."

The change was sudden and a full one eighty. The merchant immediately raised her back and turned around to her subordinates with fire in her eyes as she clapped her hands together a few times.
"Alright, boys! You heard him! All hands on deck!"

With that, they went to work, rushing out to carry the bundled up items in. They were stored inside smaller boxes as well, which in turn were stacked inside the crates. Being on guard duty, the four adventurers kept an eye on their surroundings. However, Lili couldn't help but be curious, as she eyes a crate right to her left.

In the end, old habits die hard.

She reached her hand towards the crates-

Only for another hand to grab her right arm rather tightly. Looking up in surprise, she saw Obsidian smirking at her as he pulled her away from it. Then, he raised his right finger in front of his mouth.

"No looking. Secret, remember?"

The Pallum did not pout at her father and his laughing was completely unjustified. Still, Lili didn't feel particular angry.

After all, this boring mission was finally going to be finished.

Between Boundaries 10.4

Lili couldn't believe that she missed sitting inside the carriage, doing absolutely nothing, but here she was, walking with her two feet with such a carriage to her right, and regretting exactly that. Letting out a sigh, she twirled her naginata in her right hand. The Pallum was bored, but she didn't show it on her face, instead glancing around, checking her surroundings dutifully. She could be professional, after all. However...

Nothing was happening.

Sure, on the way here, she didn't expect anything to happen, since they were a small group riding a carriage and nobody sane would ambush adventurers without seeing enough loot to warrant the risk. But today, they were actually escorting lots and lots of valuable goods. Even if the secrecy did the trick, merchants were always juicy targets, regardless of the security. As a matter of fact, considering how large the caravan was, the four adventurers couldn't cover all areas, as far as Lili was concerned. Their line was about half or more of the length of a Loki expedition, if she had to guess. As fast as Obsidian might have been, he wouldn't be able to be on all fronts at once, if they got surrounded. But they did the best out of it, with Lisa at the front with her mother and the few weapons they have received, Welf far in the back with the utility items and Lili with Obsidian roughly in the middle, where the phones were located.

Anyway, nothing was happening, despite all the items in the caravan or the gaps in their defense.

Sure, the merchants talked with each other animatedly and Lili herself did some small talk, but there was not a single sign of danger. She shouldn't wish for it, but she knew better than to expect that the whole escort thing would go this smoothly.

Not to mention her father, she thought dryly as she glanced to her left, looking at Obsidian. The teacher did not rest his eyes for a single moment, as his eyes went all over the place, never resting as he consistently assessed the area and looked for threats. His body was relaxed, but only for the purpose to jump into action at any moment.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at this.

"Dad, you are making me paranoid," she muttered annoyed, letting the naginata rest in her hand, having stopped the spinning. Obsidian simply gave her an amused smile.

"Good," he said and tapped the right side of his head. "Keeps your senses sharp."

"There is a limit to how sharp they can be!" Lili snarked back and punched his arm, causing him to laugh in a light manner. She rolled her eyes and was about to relax after the banter, when Obsidian suddenly stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. Without missing a beat, he whipped his head around, before clicking his tongue and taking a deep breath.

"Stop!"

His shout caused the entire caravan to stop from one moment to another. Honestly, Lili was impressed, raising an eyebrow at the obedience. Anyway, when everyone and everything came to a stop, the air was tense as she looked around like the other merchants to see what the fuss was about. Then, the bushes rustled and she saw what Obsidian noticed. Walking out, slowly, humans of both genders and amazons came out, brandishing weapons or cracking their knuckles, emotions ranging from neutrality to straight up glee.

Bandits. Thieves. Scum. Bastards with no hobbies. Whatever they wanted to call themselves. Anyway, they did at the very least look threatening, with some of them even wearing scars for extra intimidation effect. It did made the merchants nervous, from what little glances Lili made during the standoff. However, she didn't feel nervous per se. Instead, she rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"About damn time, you assholes!" She shouted, at the same time as her father who spread his arms open impatiently. The two of them shared a small glance, both frowning, and nodded in agreement.

"Lord Noir, you should really watch your language around Lili!" Lisa shouted from the front, her cheerful voice strained at the prospect of being surrounded. The other merchants and even some bandits stared at her and her father in an incredulous manner. But Lili didn't care, as she raised her naginata over her head with a frown, ready for combat.

Meanwhile, Obsidian cracked his neck as he took a few steps forward. Then, he faced the sky after clearing his throat.

"We handle this! But if things go south, do your thing!" He ordered the caravan and instantly the clients straightened up their backs.

"Understood, milord!" They shouted at once, startling the bandits a bit. But they gathered themselves, instead letting out low growls or making noise with their weapons to psyche themselves up. Anyway, that was everything Obsidian said as he crossed his arms, waiting patiently, with the intent to speak with the leaders. After all, it was the only thing left before a fight broke out, since there was no need to give orders to the adventurers. The team already knew their roles: Stay where they were and protect the area.

Naturally, the thugs realized what he wanted and two individuals stepped forward, radiating a different aura from the random bandits. Lili couldn't help but sweat a little bit as her grip intensified.

One was heavily armored, something that wasn't common inside Orario. Full plate, silver armor, a helmet with a red pony tail that covered his face, only leaving a few slits for seeing and a large broadsword, the size of Lili.

On his left, a jarring different looking woman stood there. An amazon, scarcely dressed like most of their race as she showed off her bronze skin to the world that wasn't covered by the red fabric, like on her private parts. She coyly tapped her bare shoulder with a simple, but sturdy looking spear. Despite the thin veil covering her face, Lili could easily see the feral grin on it.

The knight let out a sigh as he pointed with the sword at Obsidian, easily carrying it with his right arm.

"Look, let's skip the pleasantries," he said condescendingly, voice echoing, and gestured with his head at the carriages. "You give us your stuff and we won't hurt you too badly."

Obsidian in turn scratched his chin a little but, letting out a small hum. Then he crossed his arms.

"Hm. Allow me to retort."

Then, he snapped his eyes open as he let out a quick huff. As if an arrow was shot, a shiver went down Lili's spine as he did so. Glancing around and seeing the pale faces and nervous sweating intensifying, she didn't imagine it. His killing intent, that was.

However, the two people in front of her, who she assumed were the leaders, didn't even bat an eyebrow. Though the armored man could have hidden any fear through his helmet, the amazon did not have such an advantage, fully revealing what she thought about Obsidian's intimitation tactic.

Shaking her head with amusement, she mockingly raised an eyebrow at him as she gestured at herself.

"That scare us?" She drawled in broken Koine and let out a low chuckle. "Goblins scarier."

For a moment, Obsidian clicked his tongue, his body tensing a little. But it vanished quickly, as he rolled his eyes with a sigh and cracked his knuckles at his hips.

"Fine, I'll beat you up without you pissing your pants," he growled out. This was the starting sound of the battle, as the two enemies immediately moved.

One moment, they stood in front of Obsidian, listening to his words. The next moment, they become a blur, their weapons swung back, before being more or less thrown at the veteran in high speed.

However, they were not the only ones who were fast.

With a focused expression, the man raised his left arm to knock the sword away from him, while his left hand stayed low to catch the spear aimed at his stomach. Then, he spun on his feet, using his momentum to throw the spear plus amazon against the knight. However, the amazon jumped into the air, diverting the path of the spear, while the armored warrior moved with the knocked away sword, swaying to his right to narrowly avoid the attack. Clicking his tongue, Obsidian let go of the spear before putting up his arms in a guard position. Meanwhile the amazon landed gracefully on her feet, with her spear already combat ready in both of her hands, aimed at the Gaian adventurer, while the knight quickly raised himself again with heavy breath, sword held in front of himself. Already, there was a visible gap in skill between the two of them and Obsidian raised his eyebrow after shaking his hands a little bit.

"Level five and three," he commented intrigued before cracking his thumps with the rest of the respective fingers. Then he tilted his head at Lili. "You take care of the rest."

With those words, he dashed forward, forcing the earth under his left foot to give in. His palms slammed into the faces of the two leaders, their eyes widening in surprise, before carrying them off gods knew where.

Lili sweatdropped at that, before taking a deep breath to look at the rest of rather pissed bandits.

"I hope Lord Noir meant that they are weaker than me," Lili muttered in a dry tone.

Then, her battle began.

A scarred with a black mop for hair roared as he swung down his axe on her head. With a neutral expression, Lili exhaled as she swung her blade down, before readjusting her left grip in order to rotate the shaft in order to knock the enemy weapon away to the right. Stopping her spinning weapon as her opponent stumbled past her, she rammed the naginata on the ground, before using it as leverage to jump up and knee the man in the face.

Using the momentum, she extended her right leg to kick the face for good measure, before landing on him. Then, she transformed her weapon into a hammer and swung the hammer from behind her shoulder, over her head and down on the wide eyed, dagger wielding cat girl. The blonde couldn't dodge in time and got smacked into the ground with an audible crack.

With foot steps behind her, Lili turned Liberty into the dagger, letting out a deep breath as she waited as if she was resting. When the steps became louder however, she snapped around and immediately analyzed the situation.

Amazon, curved blade, aimed to slash her down from the upper right diagonal angle.

Seeing that, quickly threw the dagger into her left hand and she raised her arms to intercept the blow. While it had some strength, Lili could handle it with relative ease and quickly dashed forward, creating sparks with their blades, and cut the enemy at the stomach.

Feeling her stats growing, feeling her with strength, Lili couldn't help but grin slightly. This was going well!

Quickly, her grin faded and she rolled forward when her ears picked up something cutting through the air with considerable speed. Jumping a bit, she turned around with a frown. Of course the moment she thought it was going well, something had to happen. But this time she was prepared at the slightly more armored woman with a similar helmet as one of the ring leaders to come at her with a war cry. With a rapier, she stabbed at her in rapid speed, which Lili had some difficulty to parry with her dagger at first, while her skill still needed to warm up. The girl reached one conclusion.

Level two, at least.

The distaste had to be visible on her face, because underneath the helmet, the woman smiled condescendingly.

"Orario doesn't have a monopoly on gods, bitch!"

With a roar, she suddenly slashed with her weapon against Lili's left cheek. Wide eyed, Lili quickly tilted her head away as she ducked and the blade barely cut her hair. Clicking her tongue, the Pallum used the momentum and aimed a low sweep with her left leg at the enemy.

"Not a dog girl!" She shouted and kicked the legs away from the woman. Quickly, Lili used her naginata to stab down after creating some distance with a few steps. However, the woman rolled away in safety, no damage done by the kick. Jumping up, the two females glared at each other, both combat ready. The knight, with a formal one handed fencing stance, and Lili with her right hand on her weapon, the naginata creating a straight parallel to her right arm. When the woman grinned, Lili blinked in confusion, before realization dawned.

They were not the only ones fighting and judging from the battle sounds behind her, she confirmed two things. One, she got rather far away from her original spot. Two, a fight broke out behind her. However, she didn't panic, because the screams were purely those of combat. Nothing sounded desperate or pleading. And from the few noises she didn't recognize, followed by startled yelps, the Boundary merchants decided to dish out their hidden tricks, just like they were ordered to. Because of that, Lili grin at the fading grin of her enemy.

"Guess this isn't going as smoothly as you hoped for!" The Pallum yelled as she dashed forward, intent on hammering the dagger down on the woman's neck or throat, whatever came first. Sadly, her reflexes were good enough to raise her weapon and push against Liberty with gritted teeth.

"Shut up, midget!"

With that said, they both jumped away from each other and began to cut away at each other, rapier vs naginata. It went back and forth with none of them getting a proper hit in. Though while Lili could ramp up a little bit, gaining an advantage over her, the female knight managed to force Lili to take a hit. While it didn't take her out of the fight, it caused Lili to grit her teeth as the feedback of losing her boost made itself known every time. Because of that, she hadn't used Static yet, since she was surrounded by enemies and using up too much energy was the reason she almost died during her level up to begin with.

Still, even without her magic, they were even. Aside from the occasional hit that would at most leave a bruise, the two of them weaved around each other. A slash was blocked and followed by a counter kick to create distance. A stab was knocked away in order to close that distance.

Frustration build up in Lili and she knew the feeling was mutual. However, she forced it down and continued to probe her enemy for any holes in the defense.

However, before either of the two could finish it, after what felt like minutes of fighting, a loud horn sounded in the air.

Before Lili could wonder what that was, her enemy literally dashed away without giving her a second look. While the Pallum felt offended at being ignored so suddenly, she knew better than to chase after her. Instead, she quickly made her way back to the caravan. Though she became more and more confused at the fact that the other bandits, though she wasn't sure the term fit anymore with the powerful people they had, ran as if hell itself was after them. She frowned, a bad feeling welled up in her stomach, but she repressed it as she came to a stop in front of the carriage she was assigned to, looking none the worse to wear, including the merchants assigned to it. They were very out of breath, but aside from the scrapes and dirt, they looked fine and satisfied with themselves. As Lili grinned, she saw Obsidian arrive from her eye corners and let out a sigh of relief at seeing him unharmed.

Her father cracked his neck, blinking a few times as he let out a satisfied groan at a loud crack.

"Alright, that was actually kinda tough," he admitted and shook his head a bit. Lili raised an eyebrow at that, taking a closer look at his appearance.

"You look a bit frizzled."

She could spot his skin through the gaps his bandages created, as they were somewhat out of order. It still covered everything but his naked arms, but it wasn't smooth at all. Honestly, it kinda looked like it had the consistency of sand paper.

Anyway, Obsidian waved his hand with a minor frown.

"Level five isn't a cake walk. And the level three was annoying enough with his supporting role. Stupid healing magic..." Spitting at the ground, he crossed his arms at them. "Everything okay on your side?"

"Some got through, but we managed," Lili answered truthfully with the merchants nodding before checking on the item stock. At the same time, her teammates and Lisa's mother jogged over to them, looking tired and sweaty, but still fine. But just to be sure, the Pallum crossed her arms at them.

"You guys alright?"

"Kinda tough, but we got through. I threw my mighty shield," Lisa said with a wide grin and raised her thumb. Isabella giggled at her daughter and raised her thumb as well.

"And they knew how to yield," she added with a rhyme and instantly, they laughed when Obsidian groaned as he palmed his face, muttering something about hating Braniac. Ignoring her father, Lili turned to Welf who rubbed his left arm with a slight wince.

"What about you, Welf?" She asked with some concern, but he waved her off with a lazy grin.

"The other merchants really had my back there." His grin faded as he glared at the merchant women and Obsidian. "You Boundary guys are really holding out on us, aren't you?"

While the bandaged man remained impassive, Isabella coughed awkwardly.

"Kinda?"

Lisa on the other hand raised her hands in defense.

"Hey, don't look at me. I don't have access to that stuff. Blessing and all that."

Welf's flat look made it clear he didn't believe her, but before a discussion or more could break out, Obsidian clapped his hands, before pointing at the head merchant with folded hands,

"How's the stock?"

Instantly, the woman smoothed over her features and spoke with a professional tone.

"We are checking the stock at the moment, but so far-"

"L-Lord Noir!"

The nervous voice made the group turn around at a timid looking man, maybe twenty at most, who scratched his somewhat spiky brown hair nervously. Obsidian nodded in acknowledgment, however that only caused the man the flinch as he averted his eyes.

"They...managed to steal the crate with the two phones in them we wanted to use for demonstration..." He muttered and bowed down with shame written all over his face. "I-I am so-"

However, he didn't manage to finish as the leader of Boundary put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up again.

"Phones aren't worth your life. You did your best," Obsidian said in a quiet, but firm tone. Gulping, the merchant nodded, before moving away to help with the stock assessment. Lili frowned at her father.

Considering his neutral expression, Lili had to admit that he was a bit too relaxed considering they got robbed.

"You don't seem mad at all," she stated and received a shrug as an answer.

"I have my reasons," he said in a relaxed tone. While Lili was dissatisfied at the answer, he turned to their client. "You know what to do."

"Amp up security in order to protect Boundary," she confirmed and the two of them nodded. Then, the mother took her daughter back to the front, while Welf sighed, before returning to his post as well. The moment they were alone and the caravan started moving again, Lili leaned forward as she looked at her father's right side.

"Seriously, why aren't you mad?" Lili asked with a frown. Obsidian simply stared at her, before shrugging.

"Meh."

"Don't you 'meh' me!" The girl yelled and pouted when her father didn't even look at her when he replied with a dry tone.

"I'm not your mommy."

"How lame was that?!" Lili punched him on the arm, only causing him to laugh loudly at her.

"Ah, finally back..." Lisa muttered and the Pallum couldn't help but share the relief as they and the caravan entered through the open gates of Orario. As much of a change the whole quest was, Lili would just love to get right back to her usual schedule in Orario. Maybe Obsidian intended this, so that she would appreciate the dungeon city more. If that was the case, she hoped some hits he got during the assault stung at least a little bit, even if it were just a fraction from the bruise she had on her face.

Her thoughts came to a stop when she spotted a familiar figure, leaning against a house wall and her eyes widened when she realized who it was. With a smile, she jogged forward, moving past the carriages and merchants making their way into the city. Coming to a stop in front of the dwarf, she bowed politely.

"Gareth! What are you doing here?" She asked, tilting her head as she raised herself again, eliciting a warm chuckle from him as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"What, can't an old dwarf like me meet a junior of the family?" He asked before leaning forward with a warm grin. "You doing okay?"

Lili smiled back, as she heard footsteps behind her, probably her team and Obsidian catching up to her.

From all the executives, Gareth Landrock was perhaps the one she spent the least time around. Still, it didn't mean she didn't like him. His good natured, fatherly like manner made her feel at home in the manor and he was reliable at various things, like answering questions when he was available or even helping out in minor things.

Anyway, she shrugged casually in response.

"Got attacked by bandits, but they weren't much of a problem." She paused and blinked with a frown. "Relatively."

The dwarf stared at her for a moment, before turning his head at her companions. Both Welf and Lisa wiggled with their hands, making uncertain noises, while Obsidian shrugged without care. Gareth himself nodded and let out a loud laugh.

"Hahaha, as expected! Good that you fit right in with the Loki Family!" Glancing at the carriages, he put his hands on his hips with an appreciating grunt. "Can't wait to see what you guys brought into the city."

Almost instantly, Lisa threw her left arm around Lili, as she leaned forward with a blank expression, looking into Gareth's eyes.

"Everyone pays equally for it in this city." She paused before throwing a thumb over her right shoulder. "Well, except for Lord Noir."

As the Pallum pushed Lisa away after some difficulty, the dwarf crossed his arms, humming contemplatively.

"Hm, gotta talk to Riveria for this one then," he muttered, scratching his chin as he nodded to himself.

"She does look like the financial one in your little trio of old people," Obsidian commented, agreeing with the dwarf. However, for some reason, Gareth stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. At the same time, Welf and Lisa snickered behind Lili's back for the same, weird reasons Lili coudn't fathom.

In the end, the dwarf shrugged with a small grin.

"Yeah. Sure. Let's go with that."

Obsidian tilted his head, at the same time as his daughter. The two of them blinked in confusion, but in the end shrugged. Lili wondered what he actually meant. But that was a thought for another day.

"So, what did we miss?" She asked as she crossed her arms. Gareth's smile fell then, a serious expression replacing it as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, some stuff has to be discussed in private. Reason why I'm here, little lady. To get you to the manor as soon as possible," he explained in a quiet tone and the Pallum frowned slightly, her chest tightening as she mused over the words. Still, she decided to push it away for now and focus on the other message Gareth's words meant.

"And the other stuff?" She asked in concern and the dwarf cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well, how to put this..." He glanced at Lisa, who tilted her head in response. "You better go back to your family or else your goddess will freak out more than she already does, girl."

Eyes widening, Lisa stepped forward with a snarl, holding the dwarf at his collar. Despite not able to raise him, she still managed to show her inner turmoil as the fabric threatened to tear off.

"Did something happen to my goddess?! Or Bell?!"

While Lili didn't approve of her frantic screaming, she couldn't help but share Lisa's worry. Sure, Hestia tended to overreact when it came to her children, from what the Pallum could see, but the way Gareth phrased it made it sound serious. To her and Lisa's relief, he calmly raised his hands.

"Relax, they're safe. It's just..." He bit his lips, averting his eyes as if trying to figure out the right words. In the end, he shrugged and smiled slightly. "The lad fought a minotaur and won, while Aiz did the same with Udaeus. Both leveled up, but are also pretty resting from that stuff."

The silence between them was deafening. Obsidian stiffened up behind her, but Lili was too busy processing the words to care.

A minotaur was a solid level two monster, that could tear a level one apart. Udaeus was even worse than that in comparison. It was a Monster Rex on the 37th floor that often required a proper expedition force to safely beat. Even as ridiculous as Bell and Aiz were in their own regard, doing what they did was essentially attempted suicide.

Suffice to say, she wasn't pleased. Lisa shared her opinion, as she let out a deep growl after removing her hands from Gareth.

"I am going to murder him," she muttered angrily and Lili nodded to that.

"And I'm going to murder her." She ran her hand over her hair. "How irresponsible is that, soloing powerful monsters?!"

"Didn't you take on an army by yourself?" Welf asked in a skeptical tone, crossing his arms as he stood to her left. Lili glared at him and his casualness.

"Not completely by free will, Welf!" She shouted at him. The blacksmith raised his hands in defense, backing off slightly with a small smirk. Lili clicked her tongue at that, but before she could say more, Gareth let out a small hum as he scratched his beard.

"Speaking of which, you know why the boy leveled up so fast?" He asked in a curios tone and immediately, the trio glanced at each other nervously.

"W-well..." Lisa began, scratching the back of her head sheepishly and Lili couldn't fault her for this. After all, Liaris Freese was meant to be kept a secret. And as much as she trusted the executive, they were in open space. The group probably should delay this at the very least, but the Pallum wasn't sure if they shouldn't just brush it off either. Because of that, she decided to turn to her father as a last resort.

Lili looked back at Obsidian, about to signal him to take over, when she froze, her eyes widening in shock as the world around her grew quiet and her vision became narrowed, as she quickly ignored the world around her.

He rubbed his chest again. But unlike before, it was like he tried to claw his chest open to get to his heart. Obsidian hyperventilated, hunched over as he held his hands above his heart, as if he was stabbed through it. His eyes were clenched shut, as if he tried to ignore the world around him. After a short while, he stopped the scratching, instead clutching the bandages that weren't slightly damage into a fist. This snapped Lili out of her daze and she took a careful step forward, her right hand slightly shaking as she reached out for him, with her voice barely a whisper.

"Dad? You oka-"

As if she activated a magic sword, her words set him off. His eyes snapped open, tears falling down.

Then, he let out an enraged scream as he rammed his right fist into the ground. It instantly gave in as the hand dug into it, creating a small shockwave that made Lili stumbled a bit. She managed to keep standing, but the cracks originating from the source were big enough that she almost fell down from the sight itself. Naturally, the people around were startled at minimum and all the eyes were on Lili's father. However, he didn't care when he looked up at the Pallum.

This time, his eyes were filled with wrath. So much rage, ready to burst at anything that gave him an excuse. With fear in her eyes, she stepped away from him. This snapped Obsidian out of it, as he blinked in confusion, before horror dawned on him. Shutting his eyes, he took a deep breath as he freed his hand from the ground.

Straightening himself up, he let the air out he held in and turned his back to them. Immediately, shame welled up in the Pallum's chest for her reaction and immediately left the side of her teammates as she moved forward. But she only took a single step forward when he turned his head slightly to her.

"I'll be back. Don't wait for me and...do whatever," he whispered in a tired tone. It tore her heart to hear it and she gathered her courage to move forward regardless.

"Wai-"

But a single glare from Obsidian and all that courage crumpled. Stopping as if paralyzed, Lili gave her father a pleading look. But in the end, the man closed his eyes and shook his head in a somber manner.

"Please don't."

With these words, he moved towards the exit of Orario, the crowd immediately opening a path for him. Meanwhile, Lili stood there, her hands curled up in fists as she saw Obsidian leave with all his pent up emotions. Droplets falling on the ground, she grit her teeth.

"Damn it..."

Of course she couldn't help him again. This thought went through her mind, as she numbly followed the others back to the manor, barely recognizing their gentle shoulder squeezes or reassurances.

Interlude: The Hero

"Fighting against a minotaur alone...not suicidal he says...Bet Whetelstein put those thoughts into his head..."

"Uhm, it's Wallenstein."

"Hhmmm?"

"N-nothing!"

With that, the air fell silent again and threatened to suffocate the young boy. Either that, or his goddess was heavier than he thought. Bell let out a sigh as he lied on his stomach, his shirt off as Hestia sat on him, doing the finishing touches on his update. During all of this, she kept muttering her disapproval of his actions. While he did understand why she was peeved, Bell hoped she wouldn't be so angry to such an extent. It didn't fill him with confidence when Lisa would come home or the rest of her team.

The thought of the team made Bell frown.

Even though he understood the reasons of being excluded, it didn't change the fact that he was excluded from his senior and her teammates. Sure, training with Aiz Wallenstein managed to distract him, but Bell still felt the sting. But he didn't blame them. Lisa and the others just wanted him to be safe. The former was family and the latter were good friends, so it was naturally to think so.

Still, Bell let out a sigh. They kept worrying about him and it was all his fault. Whether by his weakness or by his actions...

"Don't get me wrong, I am proud of you."

The soft words startled Bell and he slightly turned his head with wide eyes to look at Hestia, who smiled at him. Bell couldn't help but blink.

"Really?"
In response, the goddess nodded as she went back on working on his back.

"Yes. I mean, it does help with your dream and reading what you did...it's amazing," she muttered gently.

Blushing, Bell chuckled as he scratched his right cheek.

"T-thanks."

However, the good mood quickly vanished when the air left his body as Hestia slapped his back a few times. Amidst the pain, he could tell she was pouting at him with disapproval.

"However, it was still reckless! If you had to protect someone or had someone there to make sure you don't die, I wouldn't be so mad!" She yelled, before finally stopping with the slapping and letting out a deep sigh. Bell in turn laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

In hindsight, it was rather reckless of him. Catching up or not, he realized he was getting a little too impatient in being part of Lisa's team. If he weren't as lucky as he was, he could be dead now. He had to thank Aiz for the training that helped him survive this ordeal.

If he got the guts for it, he thought with a sigh.

"So, how about you tell me about what happened?"

Her sudden request made Bell blink in confusion and glanced at her neutral expression.

"Can't you read it on my Falna?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. In response, the goddess crossed her arms and pouted at him.

"So you don't wanna tell me what happened?"

The rookie gulped, realizing his mistake of his comment, whatever it may have been, and put on a shaky smile.

"N-no, I would be happy to do so!" He was being honest as well. If Hestia wanted to hear it and listen to what might be his biggest accomplishment thus far, he was absolutely willing to tell her. Still, the confusion was still evident on his face, as he frowned slightly. Whether or not his goddess noticed, he received his answer to his previous question.

"Good." Hestia nodded to herself, looking a bit smug. Then her grin fell and she pointed at his back with a frown. "Because this isn't telling me all the details."

"Huh? Why?" Bell asked in shock and Hestia shrugged as she pressed her lips together.

"I don't know. It's like someone spilled ink over the some spots. I can't read some parts." She looked into hos eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Any idea why?"

A distant memory rang inside his head. During one of the breaks in Obsidian's training sessions, Welf wondered out loud what kind of skills he had, when the teacher was going somewhere else. From there, Lisa informed them that he had a different Blessing and from what she heard, he didn't have the "conventional" system of skills and level ups.

"Well...I heard that Mister Noir's blessing is different from others," Bell summarized his memory to his goddess as he furrowed his forehead. There was a bit more, but he couldn't quite remember. It got rather technical and the concussion he had at the time didn't help either.

When he looked back up, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw his goddess frown with what he could only describe as distaste.

"Right, that...Gaia." She clicked her tongue in irritation. "Not doing a good job of being likeable, if she screws this up like that."

Bell frowned a bit at Hestia's muttering.

He wasn't sure how Obsidian's relationship with Gaia was, but apparently Hestia knew something. And from what he could tell, her bad opinion was different from the one she had about Loki, whatever her issue with her was. Still, despite his worry, Bell remained silent. He didn't know anything about Gaia and for what it was worth, maybe his goddess was justified in her opinion. Nevertheless, the rookie decided to wait before forming an opinion about Obsidian's patron. After all, he didn't met her yet, as far as he knew.

Bell blinked at the thought and paled.

Oh gods, what if he did meet her before and he didn't recognize her? He hoped he didn't do anything shameful if he did meet her.

"Speaking of which, we gotta pick your Developmental Ability," Hestia said casually, interrupting his train of thought. Bell perked up a bit, feeling excited as he raised his upper body a bit in order to put his arms underneath.

"Oh, what do I have?" He asked with curiosity. In response, the goddess raised three fingers.

"Well, three. The classic ones Hunter and Abnormal Resistance are available. The latter would be useful, but the former not so much," she explained, lowering two of her fingers so that only her index finger was raised. Bell tilted his head with a small frown.

"Huh? Why not?"

As far as Bell knew, both skills were useful and commonly sought by many adventurers. Abnormal Resistance made sure that most poison or diseases were essentially useless on someone, if the rank was high enough, and Hunter increased the stats of the adventurer against monsters he already fought against. But the difficulty to gain each of them were different. In order to receive Abnormal Resistance, one only had to be exposed to Moth Poison in the early floors and survive (which was not fun for Bell). However, Hunter required one to kill many monsters in a short period of time. Because of that, Bell was a bit baffled why he shouldn't take it.

In response to his thoughts, Hestia shook her head.

"Because it's suited for those who stick around one floor for longer periods of times." She chuckled amused as she gave him a pointed look. "You grow too fast to make use of it."

The rookie laughed nervously, before contemplating her words.

Bell had to admit that it made sense. After all, he was the new record holder now, dethroning Aiz, as weird as it still sounded in his head. Becoming stronger against monsters he would already be overpowering by the point he would fight them would be wasteful of a slot.

Then, Bell frowned when he noticed something.

"Wait, what's the third?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and Hestia grinned at him.

"Luck."

If the Hestia Family had a cicada problem in their basement, they would be chirping undisturbed right about now. Since they didn't have such problem, only silence reigned between the two occupants. Bell blinked as he processed the word and couldn't help but tilt his head.

"Luck? I never heard of that before."

He wasn't the most informed adventurer in the world, but he was sure that he would have heard something about an ability called that. Hestia in response tapped the right side of her head, pressing her lips together.

"I think it would be akin to divine protection or something like that..." She then nodded with a proud smile. "As far as I know, it's one of a kind."

Hearing that, Bell perked up.

"Like Lili's Lightning Affinity?" He asked excited, knowing full well how strong it actually was. For one, Static became stronger and stronger with each use, its growth on par with even Bell's Firebolt. But it also made her more resistant to lightning, as was demonstrated when Obsidian decided to zap them all during training. To have a special ability available like her was an honor.

Seeing his expression, his goddess nodded in approval.

"I see we think alike." Dramatically, she raised her finger, before making the finishing touches on his back in a fast pace. "Luck it is! And we are done!"

Wiping of the sweat of her forehead, the goddess stood up and sat down on the bed, while Bell stretched himself a bit and sat next to her right, looking at his hands with a small frown.

He already knew there wasn't a sudden power up, after the first member of the Hestia family leveled up, from what Lisa told him. Still, it was a bit disappointing that the second level felt so underwhelming.

"You think this is lame, don't you?"

"No!" Bell immediately yelled in denial, waving his right hand frantically in front of his face. However, Hestia stared at him with a blank expression and Bell sighed, shoulders slumping. "Yes."

For a while, she kept looking at him. But then, she failed to hold back a giggle and patted him on the back lightly.

"You're cute when you're like that." Ignoring his blush, she leaned back and looked at him with expectation. "So. Story time?"

Scratching his cheek awkwardly, he cleared his throat.

Where to begin…

Feeling a bit restless after training with Aiz, he decided to take a deeper dive into the dungeon than unusual. Sure, they didn't have any money problems, but Bell still felt like doing his part for the family.

Having reached the final floor before the Middle Floors began with his heavy bag of monster crystals, the 12th floor, he immediately noticed that something was off. The thick mist wasn't much of a problem anymore, having gotten used to it already. Because of that, he could see rather deep into the area.

There were no monsters. But the sounds of fighting were still there. Before he could investigate further, panicking adventurers came to his way and ran right past him, screaming in terror. Not able to decipher the words, Bell wasn't sure what the problem was.

However, that ignorance didn't last long as he stepped forward. He spotted blood on the ground with wide eyes. Just as he began to see the remnants of a body, his instincts, honed by training and beatings from people far stronger than him, screamed at him to dodge.

It was a last minute action, because he barely managed to jump away from a gigantic sword trying to cleave him in half. Rolling off his momentum, Bell turned around to something that made him freeze for just a moment with terror.

A sword wielding minotaur on the Upper Floors. Covered in blood and leaving a trail of corpses behind it.

If that didn't scream irregular, Bell didn't know what would.

As if angered by his survival, the monster let out a demonic roar. Bell knew what a normal minotaur sounded like, which was enough to make him shudder. This roar was completely different and the rookie's head was filled with thoughts of running away. This was a monster that could fight level two adventurers and still have a good chance of killing them. Not to mention it was an irregular one as well.

However, it only lasted a moment, before he grit his teeth, shaking those traitorous thoughts away.

He had fought stronger beings than that. And wasn't this the perfect opportunity to beat back his own weakness, overcoming the wall that separated him from his friends and those he looked up to? Lili fought against an army of monsters and Lisa and Welf took on a Floor Boss on their own.

If they could do it, so could he.

So why wouldn't he brandish the Hestia Knife, throw away the bag with monster crystals and get ready for combat?

Still, despite all the bravado, the battle did not start well.

The Hestia Knife was a powerful weapon, thanks to his high status and was above the quality of what a level one could usually get. Coupled with his training and skill, he managed to get some hits in. However, he was still fighting a level two monster. Thus, the hide was thick enough to only allow medium cuts at most. Not to mention that the minotaur knew how to use that sword, showing some swordsmanship. The rookie had a few close calls, feeling the force of its swings barely missing him. Like inside a storm, he could feel the strong winds crushing against his face with each miss. In a straight up melee, Bell would lose, due to the lack of dealing enough damage before he ran out of steam.

Normally, Firebolt would be his solution, but the short chant spell showed its weakness once again. If the monster in question didn't have a weakness against magic, fire or lightning, Firebolt was only useful for quick damage, not severe ones.

Unfortunately for Bell, the minotaur had neither of those, and Firebolt barely did any damage. Still, it did its job in pushing the monster away for time or covering its field of vision.

Nevertheless, he was losing and took serious damage over the course of the fight. A misstep was enough for him to get slammed onto the ground, his left arm useless due to being stabbed with the minotaur's horn. His arm guard was ripped away, thrown somewhere into the mist, the only thing that prevented a hole into his limb. Suffice to say, he was panicking.

With gritted teeth, Bell cursed the fact he only had so few tools up his sleeve. He didn't expect to have to use anything but the Hestia Knife or Firebolt on only this level. Without a supporter carrying heavier weaponry for him, he had nothing left.

Then, it clicked for him.

If he didn't have enough tools, he just need to make them. And Bell knew a person who could use one spell for several occasions just by training hard enough and imagination. While Firebolt was a different spell, shouldn't he be able to do something like that as well?

He wouldn't risk something too complicated. It wasn't as naturally versatile as Static yet. However, doing a minor modification...

With his still good arm, he concentrated when the minotaur ran towards him. The distance was wide enough and he wasn't the only one exhausted.

The uncontrollable stream of fire and lightning were forced together, smaller and thinner in his mind. The wave of destruction became a single line. Then, he let loose his image of his modification.

Faster than normal, his spell shot out and hit the minotaur before it could reach him, the laser of heat and lightning hunting down its target.

Firebolt Pierce did the trick of piercing its hard hide. And it was a cool name, Hestia's laughter be damned. Better than Welf's naming sense after all.

Anyway, he hit it, but the rookie knew he couldn't fire it off again. However, he didn't need to.

It may have been luck, but Bell managed to hit it directly into its monster crystal, killing it instantly. As it fell into ashes, it took a while for him to process what he just did. Then, he realized his victory. However, it was short lived.

The modified spell had its price. He used up more energy than usual in order to condense the spell into a single, small line. Because of that, with the threat of the minotaur gone, his focus and tension left him and he fell unconscious. Exhausted, but happy.

It was the hardest fight of his life after all, but he prevailed.

Bell frowned a bit.

Now that he was looking back, he was lucky a lot even after the battle. With no party members around, he would have been easy prey to monsters in the vicinity at any time. Well, unless a random adventurer felt courteous enough to guard him, but according the Loki members that picked him up on the way back, they didn't see anyone.

And now, here he was, having his status update after members of the Loki Family (sans Aiz, thank the gods) picked him up on their way back to the surface while he was unconscious.

Hestia, throughout the story, remained silent, though without showing the occasional burst of emotion. Anger, horror, excitement, they all crossed her face at some point. But now, she frowned, right hand against her chin.

"Luck really suits you..." She muttered, clearly peeved that her child was pretty much at the dungeon's mercy after his fight. But she let out a sigh, letting the matter rest and handing Bell a piece of paper. "Before I forget...here's your new sheet."

Taking it, Bell smiled as he looked over the 'two' next to his level. The sight of Luck filled him with pride as well. However, his eyes widened when he spotted something in a section that was empty before.

A new skill!

Reading over it, his smile fell and he tilted his head in confusion.

"Heroic Desire, Argonaut. Executes automatically with an active action..." He muttered, mulling over the phrase and not quite getting what it meant. However, then his eyes went back to the name and he paled. "Wait..."

Heroic Desire. His face flushed red. His dream was now written on his back, forever a part of his body. And Hestia would see it every single day. Not to mention that Argonaut was about a story of a young boy, trying to be a hero, and failing rather hard at it. Fooled by others, having to be saved by a queen and finding monsters by sheer luck or misfortune, depending on how one would see it. It didn't make Bell's cheeks any less red.

Naturally, his goddess felt his embarrassment and decided to put one final nail into the coffin. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she hid her wide grin rather poorly behind her left hand.

"Isn't it cute how even your Blessing supports your hero dream?" She cooed at him and this caused his head to turn crimson.

"Goddess, I hate you!" He yelled with his head turned around, crossing his arms with a pout. However, he was a bit confused when he didn't hear a single giggle. Before he could question it, arms wrapped around his shoulders and Hestia pressed herself against him with closed eyes and a soft smile.

"I'm glad you're safe…" She muttered, leaning against him. Bell couldn't help but smile back, despite the minor blush.

"Sorry for worrying you, goddess."

With those words, they stayed like that for a while, enjoying the silence and each other's company. But then, Bell furrowed his forehead. Noticing this, Hestia raised an eyebrow at him and he crossed his arms.

"Hm...I have the feeling we forgot something..."

Of course it was in that moment, the two of them heard heavy footsteps from above. Looking up in confusion, the two of them tilted their heads.

Who would visit an abandoned church?

The answer came in form of the sound of wood splitting and the rookie realized someone destroyed the door that led to the basement they were in. Before he could prepare himself, the cause stomped into the room with a snarl.

"Bell, you son of a bitch!" Lisa shouted, right arm already reaching for him while she reared back her left arm, shield in hand. He only had enough time to widen his eyes in paling fear and get two, small words out.

"Oh no."