Chapter 15-

Loki wasn't sure what to think when Hestia of all people wanted to meet with her.

She had decided to agree to meet up with the other Goddess out of curiosity more than anything. It wasn't like Hestia to go out of her way to speak with her of all people; they had never been on the best of terms with one another after all. It had to have been something important and just that thought alone had been enough to pique her interest.

What could have happened with that shorty for her to request a meeting like this?

Hestia eventually walked into the meeting room wearing a scowl while a white-haired adventurer followed after her, probably that Cranel kid that Freya's been making such a fuss about. The boy didn't really look all that impressive to her though, so she didn't get what Freya saw in him.

For one thing, her Ais-chan was way cuter than that kid!

"Hey, shorty!" Loki greeted the other Goddess with a smirk. "What's the special occasion? You going to beg me for Vali's like you do with Phae-tan?"

Hestia's twin-tails actually started to sprawl around in fury. Loki couldn't help but laugh at the other Goddess's reaction. It really was too easy to tease her.

"Grr…" Hestia grounded her teeth together before she took a deep breath and calmed down. "Look Loki... my child has something that he wants to ask you."

Now that really got her curious, Freya's little new love interest wanted something from her?

"... Sure, why not," Loki feigned indifference with a shrug. "What d'ya want, kid?"

"Loki-sama…" The white-haired adventurer began with a determined look on his face. "Has something happened with Arisato-san recently?"

Ah. Well, she supposed that made sense.

Minato must have given the Cranel kid the cold shoulder or something. The kid was probably worried that something must have happened. On one hand, she was glad that Minato was listening to her, but on the other hand, it was kind of annoying how all of the problems always ended up finding their way back to her. The kid didn't look like he was willing to let her brush it off and knowing Hestia, she'd probably come kicking and screaming at her if she didn't give her child a real answer.

What a pain in the ass.

And for a moment, here she was thinking that she might have been able to get some ammunition to use against Freya from this whole fiasco. After all, how funny would it have been if Freya's new boy toy was interested in her instead? She'd have paid top Valis just to see the look on that stupid ero-goddess's face.

"He told you to stay away from him, right?"

Bell just nodded in response.

"... Look, kid. I'll be honest with you." Loki began in a serious tone. "It'll be better for everyone involved if you just do as he says."

"But why?" Bell questioned with a frown. "What happened?"

"That's on a need to know basis. And you-" She pointed at the kid with her index finger. "Don't need to know."

Bell frowned at her answer and was about to retort before Hestia interrupted.

"Loki... Can't you give him a real answer?" Hestia asked in all seriousness.

There wasn't any more of the playful rivalry they had going on, it was just the voice of a Goddess worried about her child.

"... Let's just say someone isn't a fan of your child paling around with mine and leave it at that."

"But why?" Bell bit back. "What's going on?"

Loki just sighed in response.

The kid just wouldn't leave it be. It was a pain, but she'd have to borrow a page from Bete's book. Freya always got a little too trigger happy when it came to her love interests and she wasn't inclined to put her own kids in the crossfire. Who knew how Freya would take it if she spilled the beans about her shady dealings to her little boy toy. Knowing Freya, she'd probably attack again just out of anger, and then she would have to retaliate, leading to a full-blown conflict.

There weren't any winners in that situation, just a bunch of petty bullshit between two Goddesses where the price was paid in the blood of their kids.

"Even if you knew, what would you be able to do about it?" She challenged with a sneer. "You're just a rookie adventurer, a level one. You're powerless, kid. A weakling, get that through your head already and stop acting so arrogant. You're not some hero that can swoop in and save the day. If you're really his friend, don't cause any more trouble for him and do as he says."

In contrast to what everyone liked to think, Loki never did enjoy playing the role of the villain.

If she had a choice in the matter, she'd prefer to play the role of the fool just to keep things light-hearted. She'd do what she'd need to in order to protect her children, however, and she'd rather avoid a battle with Freya, even if she was confident in her kids. A war against that ero-goddess wouldn't be one without losses on her side.

And that wasn't something she was willing to partake in unless Freya had left her with no other choice.

A thick silence hung in the air for a moment. Loki just watched as the boy clenched his fists before storming out of the room in obvious frustration. She had seen that look on his face before on many different adventurers throughout the years. It was a look that usually led to them doing something either incredibly amazing or something incredibly stupid.

Most of the time, it ended up being the latter.

"Hey, Hestia." She began with a frown. "Make sure that kid of yours doesn't go and do something stupid, yeah?"

It wasn't like she particularly cared about the kid, but Minato wouldn't be happy if the boy had gone off and gotten himself hurt or something like that. Hestia didn't even bother giving her a reply before she dashed off after her child. That was pretty rude, even for Hestia, but she'd let it slide this time. She knew what it was like to worry about one's own children after all.

Now, there was just one more loose end to take care of before she made her way back to the manor.

"You can stop eavesdropping now, Hermes," Loki remarked as she leaned back on her chair.

The blonde-haired God in question peaked in from the door that Hestia had just stormed out of. "... Your intuition is pretty scary sometimes, Loki."

She just smirked.

"So, what gives? You interested in Hestia's new child too?" She asked, prodding a bit for information. "What's so special about the kid?"

Hermes closed the door behind him and took a seat at the chair Hestia had recently vacated.

"Well… I can't speak for the others." Hermes replied with a light shrug. "But for me, I think that kid's got the potential to be the next great hero."

"Him? A hero?" Loki questioned with a raised eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"It's just a gut feeling of mine." The blonde-haired God waved off. "On to more interesting things though, I heard that new child of yours recently got into a little scuffle with Ottar."

Loki narrowed her eyes in response.

How had Hermes known about that? She hadn't mentioned it to Hestia just now about who it was that had attacked Minato after all. Freya wouldn't have let something like that slip out and she doubted that anyone on her side would have talked either. Was someone spying on her Familia?

Or was there a rat within their ranks?

"Imagine my surprise when I heard that someone managed to survive an encounter with the King?" Hermes continued on, unperturbed. "So, I decided to do a little digging into the Guild's records. That new child of yours not just a level-five, is he?"

The blonde-haired god leaned forward placing both of his hands on the table, that smirk never leaving his face all the while.

"So come on Loki, just between friends. What's the deal here? Is he a level six that you've been stashing away this whole time? Or maybe even a seven? I won't tell anyone, promise!"

Hermes was full of shit.

She was almost positive that he'd go blabbing straight to Ouranos and everyone else in his circle as soon as she told him anything. But even if she kept quiet, Hermes would have probably found out eventually anyway if he already knew this much. That pesky ladies man always did know where to dig for information that didn't belong to him.

It wasn't like she was expecting to have been able to keep her new piece under wraps forever. The Gods were always looking for the next new shiny object to play with and it would have only been a matter of time before someone else figured out her little ploy. That botched status she gave the guild wouldn't have lasted forever, even with her influence.

Loki knew when the jig was up.

Freya had already been muddling up the game lately anyway, so she may as well shake things up a little herself. Stir the pot a bit, as that old saying went. The Guild would probably end up fining her for it, but it'd be entertaining at the very least, that much was for sure. And at the end of the day, what was the point in even playing the game if it weren't for entertainment?

"You really want to know, Hermes?"

The blonde-haired God just nodded excitedly in response.

Loki leaned forward and softly whispered into his ear. "... He's a zero. He never had a Falna in the first place."

She couldn't help but rear her head back and laugh at the stupid slack-jawed look on Hermes' face. He knew that she wouldn't lie about something like this.

"... Did you cheat or something, Loki?" Hermes eventually asked with narrowed eyes. "How is something like that possible?"

"I'm a trickster, not a cheater." She replied with a roll of her eyes. "Someone else broke the rules and sent him through the World Door. My kids only found him afterward."

Hermes only blinked at that before breaking off into a laughing fit.

"Hahaha… Oh man, the game only gets better and better!" The blonde-haired God said amid a series of chuckles. "A world traveler of all things! And here I thought the game couldn't get any more entertaining."

"I know that you're going to look into it, Hermes." Loki folded her arms over her chest. "Keep me informed on what you find out, will you? It's only fair."

"Right, right. Of course." Hermes agreed, still trying to stifle his laughter. "I do have to wonder though, who's the one responsible?"

Loki just shrugged in response. "Haven't got a clue."

"Figures. Oh well, it's more fun this way anyway." Hermes replied with a smirk. "Say, Loki. You want to make a wager?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "About what?"

"On who's going to be the hero of this game. You can bet on your world traveler and I'll bet on Hestia's kid."

Loki just laughed.

"I didn't take you for the generous type, Hermes. How much money do you want to donate to me?"

"Confident, I like it," Hermes answered with a chuckle. "It makes it more interesting."

Loki didn't know what was so special about Hestia's kid, but Hermes and the rest of them could have their little future hero to be. What did she care, when she had a piece that never played by the rules of the game to begin with? A game-changer that stood on his own without having to rely on the blessing of the Gods.

She'd take her chances with a wild card like that any day.

Minato had lost track of how many days it had been since they had set foot into the Dungeon.

The expedition team moved slowly, just by nature of how many people there were to account for. He was pretty sure that he and Bete would have been able to cover twice the distance they had traveled so far if they were just by themselves, but that wasn't a viable option. To add on top of that, the Dungeon's floors only got bigger the deeper one went. It was a stark contrast to Tartarus in that regard, where all of the floors remained the same size more or less.

It was safe to say that the expedition had been a rather dull experience so far.

Finn wanted the lower-level members of the Familia to gain experience while they were still able to, so there wasn't much for him to do in regards to monster slaying either. He mostly stayed in the back and watched with all of the other higher-leveled adventurers. Someone would step in every now and then to assist when it looked like the lower-leveled adventurers were having trouble, but they managed to handle most of the monsters by themselves.

The endless cycle of walking and watching was only broken when it came time to set up camp for the night.

At least, he assumed it was night; there wasn't any real way to tell since the Dungeon didn't have an opening to the surface for sunlight and he didn't bring his pocket watch with him. He set up his tent along with the other adventurers from the Loki Familia while the Hephaestus Familia had their own side of the campsite. They were in a safe zone on the thirty-ninth floor of the Dungeon and what most of the other adventurers considered to be the first safety zone in the deep floors.

Another day or so and he'd be back on the fifty-first floor; back to where it all started.

Minato wasn't quite sure what to expect, would there be some clues as to how he got transported out of Tartarus into the Dungeon? Or would it just be another floor of the Dungeon and he'd have to rely on Loki's word to get home in the end? He'd prefer the former but knowing how his luck had been lately, it'd probably be the latter.

The campfire in front of him began to die down so he tossed another piece of kindling into the flames. The sounds of footsteps on gravel alerted him that someone was approaching from behind, but he didn't bother looking away from the campfire. It was probably Ais looking to spar again or a bored Bete that had nothing better to do. The days had been going by rather slowly after all and everyone had to find something to kill time with while they were in camp.

"Do you mind if I take a seat here, Arisato-san?"

The voice didn't sound soft like Ais's or scathing like Bete's, so he was a little surprised at who it was.

Finn Deimne took a seat on the gravelly ground next to him. The captain of the Loki Familia didn't usually venture out of his tent, so he was a little curious as to what the Pallum wanted. The captain didn't strike him as the type to approach him for no reason, after all, not when he had seen how busy the man was.

Finn didn't say anything at first, choosing to warm his hands by the fire instead.

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here, aren't you?" The Pallum eventually asked.

"... Is this about your curious adventurer's spirit again?" Minato dryly replied.

Finn just chuckled in response.

"You could say that. I just wanted to confirm a few things about your abilities before we get any deeper into the Dungeon." The Pallum looked over towards him with an amused smile. "If that's alright?"

He didn't have any problems with that.

Finn was the captain of the Familia and the leader of the expedition, so it only made sense for the Pallum to have a good idea of what everyone could do. He was honestly surprised that Finn had even waited this long to ask him, but then again, he had seen how busy the guy had been organizing everything for the expedition. Minato had been the field leader for SEES, but it was Mitsuru that handled everything in the background, so he couldn't even begin to guess how much work it was to handle all of the logistics for something as large scale as the expedition was.

The campfire continued to burn away as they talked over it, with Finn mostly asking him questions about his spells and whatnot.

Minato answered everything to the best of his ability since there wasn't a point in withholding information from Finn. The Pallum already knew about his origins anyway so it wasn't as if there was anything to hide. He knew how difficult it was to be a leader as well, so he wasn't going to do the Pallum any disservices in that regard. Information was powerful and a misunderstanding of what a party member could do on the field could be devastating for a party leader.

"Those party buffs of yours will be quite useful later on." Finn casually remarked after their brief discussion. "Now, I'd like to ask you a bit about those… Personas, was it?"

He just gave the Pallum a nod in response.

"Alright, so from what I've gathered, you need a catalyst in order to summon them, right?"

Finn must have been referring to his evoker, so he pulled it out from his pockets and handed it over to the curious Pallum.

"It's called an evoker." He explained as Finn examined it. "I can't summon a Persona without it."

"Hmm… How curious." Finn mused to himself as he held his fingers around the trigger. "Is this how you hold it?" The Pallum said as he brought it over towards the side of his head. "I've never seen anything quite like it."

Minato didn't doubt that, Orario didn't seem like they had created the concept of firearms yet. It wasn't as if they had a need to, not when they could just receive the blessings of a God.

"I know that Loki-sama wanted to keep the whole Persona thing under wraps, but…" Finn said as he handed the evoker back to him. "When things get too hectic down there, I'd like to be able to rely on your full strength."

That much was a given.

If he could prevent someone from dying by using a Persona, he'd do it without a second thought. It was better to keep things quiet, but there was no helping it when it came down to a life and death situation. He never wanted to see someone die in front of him again, not if he could help it. Minato didn't think that he'd ever get over that image of Shinjiro bleeding out in the streets of Iwatodai station and the dreadful feelings that accompanied it.

"Of course," Minato replied with a nod of his head. "... I have a request though, Deimne-san."

"It's about the fifty-first floor, right?" The Pallum gave him a disarming smile. "It's fine, I'll allow it. We'll need to take some time to fully prepare before we descend into the fifty-second floor anyway."

Finn really was perceptive, he could see why the others spoke so highly of him as a leader.

"I'll assign Bete as your backup when you decide to go investigate." Finn continued speaking, unperturbed. "From what I've heard, you two seem to make a good team. Just make sure to not waste too much energy there, we're going to need everyone at full capacity once we venture into the fifty-second floor."

That was the second time Finn had mentioned the fifty-second floor specifically. Was there something of significance there?

"Is the fifty-second floor that dangerous?"

The Pallum just gave him a wry smile in response.

"Let's just say that from the fifty-second floor onwards is where the real adventure begins."

Bell Cranel walked down the streets of Orario in a rather somber mood.

He had split up with Lily after their trip into the Dungeon today because she mentioned that had something she needed to do. According to Lily, the day had been quite productive, they had made a good amount of money after all. They even went all the way down to the eleventh floor, a new record for them.

He was growing stronger, he knew that, but it wasn't enough. He wanted, no, he needed more.

The words that Goddess Loki had said to him still stung even a couple of days later. He was still too weak, powerless even. He wanted to be a hero, but because he was so weak, the only thing that he managed to accomplish was to get saved by someone else. He wanted to help his friend, but because he was so powerless, the only thing that he could do was follow the rules that the strong had laid out for him.

Everything seemed to always come down to his lack of strength; impressing Ais, repaying Arisato, proving that werewolf wrong, his dream of becoming a hero.

All of it—

"Hey, Bell-kun!" A cheerful voice shook him out of his thoughts. "Why don't you stop by for dinner? We haven't seen you for the last couple of days."

Syr Flova smiled at him as she approached.

The Hostess of Fertility was on the same path that he took to and from the Dungeon, so he usually stopped by after adventuring for food. He had been staying late in the Dungeon lately though, so he hadn't visited in the last few days. It wasn't as if he were in the mood for it anyway, but Syr always did know how to convince him otherwise.

"... Sure, Syr-san." He replied with a tired smile.

The girl tilted her head in response. "Hey… is something wrong, Bell-kun?"

"O-oh, it's nothing." He hastily replied with a shake of his head. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Hmm…" Syr hummed to herself. "Maybe I can help?"

"I wouldn't want to trouble you with my problems, Syr-san."

"You can tell me, Bell-kun." The waitress sweetly smiled. "It wouldn't do for the Hostess to lose a valued customer like yourself after all."

Bell just sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Well… I just want to help out one of my friends, but…" He cast his gaze down towards the ground. "I'm not strong enough to do anything about it."

"Then you just have to get stronger, right?"

"Yeah. That's why I haven't been stopping by lately." Bell explained with a wry smile. "I've been spending more time in the Dungeon, but even then..."

It wasn't enough.

"Syr? Are you coming back to the Hostess?" A familiar voice called out. "Ah. Hello, Cranel-san."

Ryuu Lion greeted him with a small nod of her head as she approached.

"Ryuu-san," Bell responded with a nod of his own. "... I'm probably taking up too much of your time, Syr-san."

"It's fine, we're not that busy right now anyway." Syr waved off as she put a finger to her chin. "... Say, Bell-kun. What if Ryuu were to help you get stronger?"

"Huh?"

"Ryuu's really strong!" Syr eagerly pointed out. "You could come by the Hostess in the mornings before we open for training and we can all have breakfast together as well."

"Syr…" Ryuu tentatively began before the other waitress whipped her head around.

"You'll do it, won't you Ryuu?" She pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

"... Alright." The elf conceded with a small smile. "If Cranel-san is willing."

Syr quickly turned her attention back towards him. "How about it, Bell-kun?"

"That sounds great." He replied with a smile of his own. "Thank you, Syr-san, Ryuu-san."

"You can pay us back by making sure to stop by the Hostess in the evenings again." Syr happily replied. "I missed you, after all."

Bell couldn't help but blush in response. Syr really needed to stop teasing him like that.

For Ais Wallenstein, expeditions were always tedious affairs.

Most of the time was spent walking and watching as the lower-level members of their Familia cleared the path as a way to build up experience. Ais understood why it was necessary, the other members needed to become stronger too, so the Familia would continue to grow as a whole. She knew that she would have her chance to fight once they made it to the deeper floors.

It didn't make it any less tedious for her, however.

Ais had always felt that the days they wasted marching down into the lower floors could have been better utilized for getting stronger. She could have cleared the way herself and fought until she was satisfied with her growth for the day. That way of adventuring could only go so far, however, and she knew that she would have to rely on others in order to become stronger. Adventuring with an expedition team allowed her to take more risks and fight stronger monsters in the deep floors, something that she wouldn't have been able to do alone.

Fortunately, she wouldn't have to wait on the sidelines much longer.

The campsite on the fiftieth floor would be the last one for the foreseeable future. It was going to act as a forward operating base for the expedition team. Most of the members of the expedition team were going to be remaining behind in the camp while a select few were going on ahead into the deep floors. It would be nothing but strong enemies from here on out and she would utilize them in order to become even stronger.

The dark flame within her adventurer's soul demanded it.

Strength, it cried out for. She wanted, no she needed more of it.

Nothing else truly mattered. Everything that she did was for the sole purpose of getting stronger. Every pivotal decision in her life was dedicated to the pursuit of strength and every decision in the future would continue to be the same until the One-Eyed-Black-Dragon fell by her hands.

It was why she found herself gravitating towards Minato Arisato.

He was strong, even without the blessing of the Gods. She wanted to know how that was possible in order to become stronger herself. He had said that he could not teach her, but that didn't deter her. She would simply observe and take what she could from him, all for the sake of getting stronger.

The fact that strong enemies appeared around him only gave her further reason to stay nearby.

So when she saw Bete and Minato leaving the campsite by themselves, headed towards the staircase that led to the fifty-first floor, her next decision was a simple one to make. She didn't know what they were doing; Finn hadn't even announced the team that would be heading down into the deep floors yet, but it didn't matter. Every decision that she made was only geared towards obtaining more strength.

So naturally, she followed after them.

Author's Notes- Sheesh, it sure is difficult for me to write once the muse dies down. I wanted to get another chapter out before the end of the month though, so I'm just glad I was able to power through it. As always, reviews are appreciated.

Edit (11/24): Made some changes to the chapter after someone pointed out some inconsistencies with Loki's character.