Chapter 35

Dinner was a bit of a blur for me. Part of it was my very close call with Mind-Zero. Rebuilding my armour from what was basically 'magic sparkles' was really intense. Considering it was tiring when I'd put one suit into the 'storage', rebuilding two at once was literally twice as hard. I didn't really have a choice however. 'Dimensional' magic, as well as the 'Christian system' of magic didn't exist here. Once that box was open, it was all or nothing.

The other part was thinking, or trying to think, about how this helped the overall 'plan'.

In the end however, with all the children either hungry or still grumpy that Fen-chan had vanished during play time, I didn't manage to do more than spin my gears uselessly. What I needed was a good sleep. Had I even gotten one of those since I returned home?

When my thoughts started to focus again, I was laying on my stomach, on the living room floor, with someone trying to gum one of my ears off and the rest of me covered in small crawling bodies.

"How's our potion supply?" Someone had asked, Ouka, I think?

"Lilly made sure we've got all our potion loops filled!"

"Fox? You alive under there?" Aisha asked, "Hime? Give her rear a poke for me, you're closer."

To my surprise, one of my tails captured Haruhime's leg gently as her toe poked my butt. There were a few quiet giggles around me. "Yes, I think she's here again."

"Well..." I mumbled, trying to figure out how to move without upsetting anyone, "I've had potions cooking every chance I got." Meh, I was happy right where I was, "So we're probably ahead of the potion needs right now." I pointed an accusing finger at Aisha, or at least I thought I did, "Did Welf patch up your armour?"

"Who do you think you're talking about?" Welf said, "Been a rough couple of days though. That monster did a lot of damage to our gear. Not to mention our weapons." I could practically hear him flex his hammer arm, "But I got it all done."

I carefully swept an arm out, and captured who ever it was that was nibbling my ear, "Grr!" Followed by me blowing bubbles on their belly.

"Have you thought of how to cover our rear, so to speak?" Maki asked.

"Yes, with Miss Kodori going into the dungeon with Miss Ryuu..." Bell sounded very worried.

"Weine? Ruffle his hair for me." I said.

"'Kay!" Followed by the sound of Bell's chaotically ruffled hair getting ruffled further.

"I need an opinion on this one." I said, "Yes, I fully plan on going into the dungeon. I couldn't sleep at night if I didn't help her now." There were a few sounds of acknowledgement around the room, "The question is, yes, how to we keep our home safe while I'm out." Chie seemed to lose interest in being tickled, and crawled away towards Aisha's boot, "One idea was to simply tell Freya outright what I was doing, and, as politely as possible, tell her I'd be disappointed if something happened while I was out."

"Basically daring her to try something? Isn't that..." Asuka trailed off.

"The implied 'or else' might make her hesitate." Welf said, "Or not."

"Another option, is to simple move what she wants someplace else." I continued, "Basically what we did during the Donatis."

"Can't kidnap them if they aren't here." Ouka said, "But that would mean leaving them with someone we trust."

"We are not bringing them to Loki." Hestia said with a grumble.

"Ganesha Familia already has a day care, but they are not as well fortified there." Aisha added.

"The city is pretty big, lots of places to hide them if we had to." I said, "With Freya being as strong as she is, anywhere could still be 'not enough' if she wants them badly enough." I captured another of the children with a hand and tickled them, "You are all so precious... Even when you try and bite O-ma's ears."

"Call the Oni home?" Delly suggested.

"I could." I nodded/rubbed my face against Toshi's belly, "But I'd rather them have their fun, and maybe be a trump for the dungeon. But..." I hmm'ed.

"Hmm?" Everyone said at once.

"We've already done the 'bait and switch' on her. Inviting Miss Loki and Royman over, except under an illusion. It was risky, but it worked." I let Toshi go, since it appeared he wanted to find an ankle that didn't tickle him back for nibbling. "What if we all just 'stayed home'?"

"I know I'm good with illusions, but that's a little much for me." Delly said, "Since I'm not a Familiar anymore, I don't have as much magic as I used to."

"There is another option." Shinkage spoke, "We have magically inclined people here, and someone who can make basically any kind of magic you can think of."

"Are you suggesting we lay traps down, and hope they aren't needed?" Mikoto asked, her tone hinting at this being a dishonourable act.

"No." I could practically feel everyone's adrenaline spike.

Since I was still down on the floor and being a chew toy for the children, I didn't see Hagane. But I hadn't heard him either. And apparently no one else had either. "Oh drat... It's okay Chigusa-chan, there there."

There was a metallic 'tap' noise, "I thought we told you no sneaking up on people." Hestia said, "ow..."

"Sorry."

"Hey, that's right... Oh boy!" Delly was thrilled with the show however, "We can make a 'disregard' spell!"

"Is that what it was?" Takemikazuchi asked, "Hagane's presence felt... slippery."

"Unfortunately, the full effect was lost. But the 'mind trick' half of the enchantment still works."

"Huh... Maybe the translation for it is a tiny bit off? Hagane's body is enchanted with stuff I knew would work here." I sighed, "My love? I think someone is sleeping in my tails someplace... can you...?"

A pair of warm and familiar hands untangled someone from my tails, then another someone, allowing me to roll over and sit up. She then handed me one of the snoozing bundles, and I cradled him in my arms, "Hello Tatsuo..." I mumbled.

"Magic can be really picky like that." Delly said, "For all you know, who ever created the system for Norse magic dotted their I's differently."

"So... You want to make the Manor vanish?" Hestia asked.

"No... not quite." Maki chimed in. "See... We demons, or anyone with a magical heritage, survive longer when people don't pay attention to us. It's not invisibility, but more like... 'please ignore me, I'm not worth noticing'." She sighed, "I'm not sure I can do it..."

She stood up, and brought her hands together. She formed three quick gestures, linking and unlinking her fingers, then...

I wanted to look away from her.

It lasted maybe three seconds. Just long enough for most people in the room to start looking away, wondering what had drawn their attention over that way in the first place, when the effect ended. "Urg, sorry... The Oni make that look so easy..."

"You did pretty well there." I said, "Even I wanted to look someplace else."

"So you want to do something like that... but for the entire manor?" Hestia asked, rubbing her eyes, then picking up Kei, "Oh hello there."

There was a moment of silence while the people who knew about this kind of magic (Maki, Delly, Shinkage and myself) thought about it for a moment. "If we covered our outer wall..." I started.

"It would give the enchantment permanence, that will reduce the magic needed to keep it running." Delly said.

"It would take some time to do." Shinkage said, "This isn't a small property."

"The drawings would need to be perfect too. I don't think you'd want to etch this into every single part of the wall..." Maki continued.

"No one's ever let me draw on the walls." Weine pouted quietly, getting a hair ruffle and a 'there there' from Bell.

This of course sparked an idea, "Well, I think we'll make an exception." I said, my hand gently playing with little pointed ears, "As with all things, this will be a group effort."

"You better be able to wash it off later." Hestia warned, making Astraea and Takemikazuchi laugh.

"Of course." I nodded, "Delly, I want you and HIDA to work on the simplest mathmagic design you can. It has to be something you can make an illusion of." Tatsuo looked up at me, yawning, and I couldn't help but copy him, "Tomorrow morning, we'll do a little painting."

"So..." Aisha said, "What happens if it doesn't work? You still won't be here in case Ottar decides to show up."

"Well, I can only wear one suit of armour at a time, and we now have a way to contact Loki Familia so they can be here in minutes, not hours, in case something happens." I replied, "Until then, I'm going to actually get some sleep." I paused, looking over and up at Haruhime, "After making sure the children are sleeping."

Aside from thinking about how to make the paint, my thoughts were entirely occupied by Haruhime and the children. That was perfectly okay with me. Heck, if I had my choice, I'd have dedicated the next few years of my life to 'making things for the children' be it paints for endless amounts of hand prints on things. Play-doh? Arts and crafts? Primitive wooden Lego? Wouldn't be able to make that fast enough...

"Ko-san?" There was an ever so gentle tug on one of my tails, "It's hard to brush your tail when it wants to think on it's own."

My thoughts were hastily shoved aside so I could pay attention to her, "This is how I'd rather spend my time." I said quietly, mentally counting all the children's tails and ears, making sure they were all still here, again. "With you, with them, thinking on ways to make them happy and grow up strong and fine."

She laughed a quiet 'fu fu', her hand capturing the tail she was working on before it went all thoughtful, "Will... will you be able to stay home when you return?"

"I hope so. I'd rather not have to take over the city, just to keep the city away from them long enough to grow up, and make their own choices." I shivered a little, her fingers and the brush making my spine tingle.

"I'd been curious about that... You won't make them join Hestia Familia?" Her tone held no accusation. It was an honest question, "It is a given that a child among Familia members will join that Familia."

"It is. And it makes sense in a way, but also... seems stifling, restrictive. Consider Lilly? The choice was made for her." Her hands pause for a moment as they brushed, then resumed, a little slower, "We will raise them, care for them, teach them, guide them, train them. But... I don't want to make choices for them."

"Is that why you don't seem to mind letting other Gods around them? Aside from a few, at least."

"They are our friends. And while they," I motioned to the children, all sleeping in and around our tails, "are our treasure, they are not 'belongings'. They will grow, learn and decide what to do with themselves." I leaned back surprising her a little, but she happily let my tail go to wrap her arms around my middle and let my head rest on her shoulder, "If one of them chooses to work a field to grow food? Pick up a hammer? Explore the world? The dungeon? I won't tell them 'no', I will show them how." I smiled, "I think the only thing I might demand of them, is that they visit often."

"Because you don't want them to be trapped in a room?"

"No... Because I don't want them to be trapped in a room, because someone else said so." I reached up and brushed the side of her face with a hand, then wiggled my shoulders just a little bit, "Come my love, let's get some sleep."

The next morning had me skipping most of the usual group activities. I woke up feeling refreshed (surprising considering my near miss with Mind Zero) helped feed and clean the children, gave Haruhime the most scandalous of kisses while the door was still closed... And got to making paint.

By Hestia's divine decree, this paint had to wash off. That was fine, since I didn't want the inside of our walls, and maybe the outside, to be covered in mind bending geometry for any longer than it had to be.

By necessity, it had to be magically conductive. Our options for how to do this were kind of limited. I could have mixed in my fur. But not only would that make the paint almost impossible to keep consistent, even I didn't have that much floof. Instead, we used our supply of Ko-steel. With my curse of being unable to harm things, I just tossed our entire supply of Ko-steel into a clean bucket, (this almost made Welf cry... like... full on man-tears), and the resulting magically conductive dust would now be used as a base.

The last trick was that we needed to mix it all at once. If the paint was too thick or thin, it wouldn't allow proper mana flow. So, while Welf held back his manly tears at how much metal we just tossed into a bucket, he made a huge wooden basin.

Then, with HIDA-lite showing Delly how the diagram went, Delly using a little magic and illusion to mark all the walls, and everyone having a grand old time painting, we made surrounded the entire manor in what amounted to a huge 'This is not the Manor you are looking for' spell. With HIDA-lite doing a double check, then a little cleaning and sharpening of some lines here and there... All that was left, was to make it 'go'.

"I know you want to help more." I said to Shinkage, "But are you sure?"

"This much should be simple for me." She said, "So long as you don't take too long, I will be fine."

"How long is too long?" Aisha asked, going cross-eyed for a moment, then trying to scrub a spot of paint off her nose.

"A few days? A week? I've yet to hit my limit with how much magic I can use, but, this will be a good test I think." Shinkage shrugged, "That is no excuse to take your time however."

"We will make sure your efforts don't go to waste, Miss Shinkage." Bell said seriously.

"That said, if this fails, or breaks down, she won't have much backup." Welf added, "I mean, Hagane's pretty incredible."

"Thank you."

"But not enough on his own, not against Freya." Welf finished, realizing he'd been patting Hagane's head without meaning to.

"I will stay." Haruhime said, "Lending someone my magic is second nature to me now."

"We'll stay too." Ouka and Chigusa nodded, Asuka too.

"We wouldn't be much help at that depth." Maki said, with Delly nodding, "Besides... most of our experience is against other people." Like overpowered people with crazy attacks and weird magic...

I nodded, thinking, "So, Bell, Aisha, Mikoto, Welf?"

"He-ck yeah." He corrected himself when my tails swished in his general direction, "I managed to clean up my new sword a little, you know, sharpen it... Who ever owned it last didn't seem to know what a whetstone was..."

"Lilly?"

"Lilly has to go! Or no one will pick up anything!"

"Okay..." I hmm'ed, "And Ryuu."

"So... I guess all that's left is to turn it on?" Delly asked.

"Yeah. Then we suit up and walk out like nothing strange is going on." Welf laughed, "Which one are you going to wear?" He asked me.

Both Shinkage and I said, "The white one." At the same time.

(Freya)

"What are they doing..." Freya asked no one in particular. "Scurrying around, drawing on the walls..."

"M'lady?" Ottar, almost always by her side, replied with his best guess, "Redecorating?"

Resting on her perfectly padded, ultra comfortable couch, she looked at her treasure with an indulgent smile, "It would hardly be so simple... Not with her..." She turned her gaze away completely to look at him, "Have there been any reports on this... 'hub' that everyone is talking about? That potion she's giving people who work with Ganesha?"

"The 'hub' seems to be a central place for the new communication artifact she made." Ottar replied, quoting from the various Familia that had reported to him, "This 'occulus' seems to allow one to talk to someone else over great distance. And they are using that to co-ordinate themselves. All of the Familia supporting the 'Alliance' have one. And several have shown up in the city. The central market, and bulk traders square, as well as the Guild office on the first floor of the tower."

"Such an interesting tool... but no matter how many of the little Familia stick together, it won't matter to us."

Ottar seemed to consider something, but then continued with, "The potion has been called a 'Lizard Tonic'. It will regrow lost limbs over time, allowing whomever takes it to return to the dungeon, or at least a normal life in retirement."

"Does it work?"

"Reports from the party say that the orphans from Rakia were treated for various injuries using such a potion, yes. It was not proven there, but I have met some of the orphans. One of them had no tongue, but now speaks quite clearly. Another had their ears clipped, but are clearly of elven heritage now."

"Buying loyalty it seems." Freya trailed off, actually catching Ottar's look of hesitation, "My Treasure?"

While he would keep things to himself, so he wouldn't risk offending Freya, he would never hold back when asked directly. "The potion seems to be less of a 'bribe' and more of a 'bonus'. It is given to anyone who wants it, and can be purchased. However, the cost is prohibitive. Dain Cecht Familia can make the potion as well, since the recipe was in Kodori's book. But the materials seem to be difficult to obtain, and process."

"If it is expensive, then...?"

"Agreeing to work for the Alliance, in any significant capacity, has the Guild compensate for the cost."

"Oh? Openly taking sides it seems... no?"

Ottar shook his head, "No. As Ganesha Familia is part of the Alliance, working for them, and thus supporting the Guild in running the city..."

"Ah, clever."

"We," Ottar was of course speaking of the rest of the Familia, and not the 'royal' we, "Have surmised that many of the new gathering quests are for some of the materials needed for this potion. They are always posted on the board, and have no limit on number gathered or compensation."

"Would it be possible to say... cut off supplies?" She smiled.

"Yes."

"Have it done, work with Dain Cecht, so that we know exactly what materials we sell for profit, and what we sell to him, for profit."

"Very well."

"And the other?"

"The communication system they have, has effectively halted all of our intimidation efforts. While we could continue, we would risk outright exposure in doing so."

Freya 'tsk'ed irritably, "Has anyone thought of a way to work around this? Have we managed to breach their 'Hub' yet?"

"We do not know where the Hub is, and our efforts to misdirect their patrols or reporting have failed outright. The Alliance has taken up a formidable passive resistance." Ottar said quietly, "We are also having issues with the Guild, in truth now, since we have not paid our outstanding fines."

She looked back out the window, over the city, "To think it took this much for the guild to grow a spine... We clearly haven't been leaning on the Guild enough..."

"Most of our agents within the Guild are compromised now, with the use of our assets within Ganesha Familia."

"More of her meddling no doubt..." Her eyes swept over the cityscape before her, before looking off into the distance at nothing at all, "Keep watch then, and if she steps outside, make sure to remind her that Hestia isn't the only one who can ground her. I think we are done 'playing nice'."

"Yes, Lady Freya."

(Kodori)

"So... How do we know it's working?" Welf asked, "I mean, aside from the glowing, and the weird static in the air?"

"And the birds looking like they want to peck the walls?"

"Or how I want to peck the walls?" Gros added, "Air should not itch."

"Oh, that's easy." I said, "As a matter of fact..."

I felt a little tingle in the back of my mind, and took out one of my Tarot. Ryuu's to be exact. After a moment of looking at it, the picture resolved itself into a moving one, "Sister?" I asked.

"Did you move your home sister? I cannot seem to find it." She asked.

"Oh! We weren't going to pick her up?" Aisha asked.

"No, I had her wait just around the corner just out of sight of the manor, and look over every so often." I replied, then to Ryuu, "It's similar to how we were hiding 'over there'." I explained, "Seems like it's working. Are you ready, sister?"

"I want to put my past behind me, finally. Perhaps move on from dish washing? At least... once my punishment is over."

"How much longer do you have anyhow?"

"It ended yesterday. But I will be doing it again, for as many days as it takes to return." She replied with a smile, "Let us hurry."

"Mama Mia is harsh." Bell said with a nervous laugh.

"I just have to suit up." I said, "And maybe one more thing." Ryuu and I nodded to each other, "See you soon." And I put the card away.

"Would you like help? Haruhime asked.

"Yes please. Welf? You too. It's just as complicated as it looks."

Welf, and with a swish of my tail to get her attention, Delly, headed to the lab to fetch my armour. I'd gone into mind down, and didn't say what to do with it before hand, so, there it stayed until now. That was fine, this was the most secure room in the manor, and yes, all the tables and chairs had been 'child proofed' with nice smooth sanding and filing of all the sharp corners.

Welf was wide eyed at the look of the two suits, while Delly and I were smiling at the childish glee on his face. While he took a moment to marvel, Haruhime entered as well, a little metal box in her hand.

"This is... everything is so precise! And meshes so well together! Dragon scale? Oh you're coat!" Yup, total fanboy moment, "But here..." And an instant switch to 'serious learning mode', "What did you coat this in?" He tapped the white armour with a fingernail, "Enamel... Bone? And here... Is that crystal? Not quartz... And these, enchantments? The northern style you were talking about?"

Again, I found myself just a tiny bit envious of Welf's genius. He might not have known exactly what I'd done, but he was already putting together how I'd done it. "When this all settles, I'll have more stories to tell. As for the precision, that was done with HIDA's help."

"I am really helpful!" HIDA said from her spot on the table, "Well... it was really HIDA-Prime, but I'm helpful too!"

"Yes you are HIDA-chan." Haruhime said gently, "The enchantment around the manor works perfectly, thanks to your design." She was even using the same 'giving you headpats' voice for the little AI.

"Yay!"

Welf was squinting at HIDA however, "You know, if big sister here ever gives you the ability to move around, I'm gonna have so many questions."

"I like questions too! Almost as much as being helpful."

I had to assert a little order again with a professional, "Ahem. Welf?" He looked at me for a moment, and I tugged his bandana over his eyes.

"Hey what gives?" While he fixed it, my clothes vanished, then reappeared, leaving me in a near copy of Xenovia's skin tight body suit. So long as I never hit mind down, I'd never be naked again, and since I didn't actually transport any spare suits over when I had the chance, this was the best I could do for now. "Oh... Wow."

"You're not thinking naughty things, are you Welf-san?" Haruhime teased.

Delly laughed while Welf replied honestly, "Well, maybe a little." Since like just about everyone else in the Manor, he couldn't resist Haruhime's gaze.

"Well, she does look quite nice in it. Though, I don't think I could ever bring myself to wear something similar." Haruhime admitted, "Oh dear."

Delly had been reduced to hiccuping giggles on the floor by this point. While she recovered, I started disassembling the white suit of armour, starting by reaching inside to undo the first straps. Since this suit was a full upgrade over the black one, I'd done a better job at hiding all the straps, making sure they were protected as well as I was. Since I had intended for this suit to be part of the 'infinite arsenal' inside the gems, 'getting out' of the armour easily wasn't part of the design, since I would be summoning it over my body.

Welf realized this of course, "So... What happens if you fall into the water or something? No way you're getting out of this easily, not without ripping it off."

Finally disassembled, I started from the ground up, fitting the plates of the shin guard on. The other thing I'd designed this armour for, was fitting perfectly over my boots (which I might add, were still the most amazing boots ever). "Well, I can hold my breath for a reasonable amount of time, and if I can put my feet to the floor, I'm pretty sure I can push myself back out of the water." I explained, "Dungeon use only, of course." Since as far as anyone knew, there was basically no 'muddy water' in the dungeon anywhere. "That said, I can just rip it off myself if I must."

"Fair enough."

So, the three of them and myself got me encased in my suit of white nordic armour. It took about ten minutes or so, even then, and it felt just a little loose, or tight in a few places since I'd been more idle than before, and the children had slowly been demanding less milk as we gradually shifted to semi-solid foods. Sadly, I'd only planned for the second one, reminding me to do more leg on leg day.

"And lastly..." I said, accepting my helmet from Haruhime. Before I could put it on however, she took hold of my gorget (the plate of armour protecting the throat) and tugged me down a little so she could kiss me, "Oo, thank you."

"So, not that I mind helping, what did you need Boss?" Delly asked, "I think I'm finally getting used to touching metals..."

"Remember that bit of glass?" I asked her, "Fen-chan?"

There was no pain this time, and like always, he seemed to just... blend out of the shadows in the room. After a moment of shaking himself off, as if he were just sleeping, he sat down and gave us his best silly foxxo smile. Welf jumped a little at the sudden appearance, but gave in to the expectant look and gave Fen-chan's chin a scratch.

"Oh... Yes, I DO remember that." Delly grr'ed at me, "Wait... Are you thinking..."

"Basic question here." I nodded, tucking the helmet under one arm and also giving in to the urge to scroofle the bestest foxxo's ears. "Would it be a good idea?"

The closest thing to a 'magic' expert on staff, and possibly one of the best in the city for the more subtle things, Delly would probably know best. Unless I reached out to Ajuka, or maybe Odin. But since I didn't want to bother them, and honestly -shouldn't- bother them...

"I'm not sure." Delly said after a moment, "I mean... it's what was left after you killed Fenrir."

"Well, you did say it was just power. And, that's what we need." I replied.

"This is sounding like something went wrong." Welf said.

"Yes, something did go wrong." Haruhime said, giving me the smallest of -not smiling- looks, since she knew all the details.

"Part of my magic resistance is taking in magic, and pushing it out harmlessly, like a lightning rod." Welf nodded, "Well, I kind of took in a lot of magic, but didn't have anywhere to put it for a while. When I DID get rid of it, I put it into a container, and it nearly killed me."

"It did kill you." Delly reached up and poked my nose, since poking my ribs wouldn't do anything. "It was a lot of power, and it had started to twist what you were inside, just a little." She motioned to her ears, and swished her tail, the slight silver highlights glittering, "It's no small amount of power though... If you give it to him, he might get out of control."

I looked to Fen-chan, who was now standing behind Haruhime and resting his big head on her shoulder (while soaking up more scroofles like the attention suck he was). Then I looked at the little metal box. "Love? If you need to, I want you to take what's in that box, and give it to him. Don't open it until you need to."

"I understand." She said, "Be safe while you are gone." She said with a smile.

I gave her forehead a kiss, Fen-chan an ear scroofle, and left the room, "Let's go."

Now, if we were going on a normal trip to the dungeon, we'd walk to the main street, then parade ourselves towards the tower. But, being seen was the last thing we wanted. So, under the cover of the invisibility shrouds we'd gotten from Fels during the Xenos incident, Ryuu, Bell, Mikoto, Aisha, Welf, Lilly and myself went instead to our warehouse near the Artisan Quarter. I could tell the need for secrecy chaffed a little for Bell and Aisha. Aisha was a woman of action, bold and loud with her intent. Bell... I think it was the actual need to hide. Like we were doing something wrong. Or that something was so wrong with the city, that we needed to hide at all.

Welf was too practical to care. Lilly was in her element. Ryuu had been hiding for years already since nearly killing the entire Rudra Familia. And I was a Kitsune, and supposed to be mysterious... or something.

Once inside the warehouse, with the thick door securely locked behind us, we hid the shrouds someplace and went towards the back, behind the last row of shelves, and to the big trap door.

"Whew." Welf said, "Being under those for more than a minute or two gets really warm."

"Welf is just a hothead." Lilly said, "Miss Mikoto?"

"They are almost here." She said after a quick hand gesture (that was very similar to a 'hand seal' used in Senjitsu).

I put my hand on the big iron ring for the trapdoor and lifted it open. "Shame we couldn't bring Weine, just for this part." I said, "Who's that I hear down the hall?" I called down into the dark.

"Ahh we're late aren't we?" I heard Fear, a Harpy Xenos. Gentle by nature, she had the kind of voice that reminded me of Asia's 'panicking kitten' voice. To be fair, she was still a Xenos, and a highly capable fighter in the air.

"Who's that though?" Ray, the golden feathered Siren, asked. Like Fear, she was also exceptionally strong, but her mannerisms were closer to say, Irina, the eternal ray of sunshine from the other world.

"Yeah, your helmet really messes with your voice." Welf nudged me, "It's us! Hey girls! We just got here, so you're not late, we're just early."

I took off my helmet while the two avian Xenos finished the trip down the last hallway and up the steps, "Oh! So that's why." Fear said, looking at me, then the helmet.

"Your voice would be so much prettier without all that metal over your head." Ray agreed, "It is good to see you in person again though!"

I had to carefully give them both a hug, since their feathery arms would get caught in my armour, "It's good to see you too." I said, "Oh, pardon, they missed you too." I then had to convince my tails to let them go.

We spent a moment longer exchanging greetings and pleasantries. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling watching them all get along. A headpat here, compliment there, light teasing and rib elbowing. It all seemed so natural, too natural to be faked or forced. Real friendship between vastly different people and backgrounds.

"Lilly sees Kodori's soft side." Lilly mumbled up to me, "Like that time by the fireside."

Yes, I was getting a little misty eyed. So, I gave Lilly a pat on the shoulder, "I hope you're our backup?" I asked the two.

"Yup! If that person you're looking for likes to hide around the Basin, you'll want eyes in the sky!" Fear said cheerfully.

"At least, what passes for sky." Ray sighed, "But yes."

Ryuu nodded, giving me a raised eyebrow, "What? I heard they had trouble with all the flying monsters. So, I asked Lido for his best solution, since we only really have Bell and you for ranged stuff."

"Your wings?" Ryuu asked.

I shrugged, and shook my head. I didn't know if they would work, and even if they did, the weird physics defying magic that let me fly with wings that were FAR too small ran off a magic that didn't work here. Untested, untrusted, unfit for dungeon use, at least for now.

"Shall we go then?" Bell asked, "I don't want Miss Ryuu to be grounded any longer than she has to be."

"Sure! We'll take our tunnels down to the twenty second floor... oh wait, can you swim with that on?" Fear asked.

"Lilly brought rope!"

"No problem." I said, taking a deep breath then getting my helmet on, "Time to put one last skeleton in the ground sister."

"Yes... So that my Familia can grow again without the shadows of the past blocking the light."

The two Xenos seemed to know -something- was up with this mission, but didn't pry. Instead Ray asked, "Oh... what kind of wood is that? Smells amazing!" She motioned to Ryuu's sword.

The Xenos tunnels, Gnossis, were much how I remembered them. Say what you would about Daedalus and his insane bloodline, all of them, even Dix, were meticulous workers, who demanded a high standard of work. It wasn't perfect, but the walls were reasonably smooth, the supports be it of wood or metal, were treated and braced perfectly to prevent rot, rust and warping. And there was enough space to move stretch your arms over your head, even if you were say, three meters tall. It was on par, or better, than the modern day mines of Earth.

However, now, there were other things I didn't remember. For instance, just past the hidden and secured magic door, locked by magic and needing a 'keystone' (that little pyramid I'd found during that incident) was a small living area. A couple magic lamps, a pile of clean pillows, a chair, some water barrels, a couple of small boxes that smelled like dried and cured meat. And all of it built around one of the many 'waste' pits. (Yes, a hole in the ground that led who knows where, that you did your business in). That had been walled off, and surrounded by dried and fragrant herbs to hide the smell.

It was simple, but civilized.

As we descended, there were other such nooks and crannies. Little personalized spaces that had most of the creature comforts you might want after a long day in the dungeon. Some had a book or two, others had no chairs but lots of little pillows or blankets on the floor, and one even had the start of an artist's atelier, with a half finished canvas painting of what looked like Rivira, the town on the eighteenth.

"Where is everyone?" Bell asked.

"Oh, they're out and about." Ray replied breezily, "Ouranos asked that we very quietly hunt for pockets of monsters that might have migrated more than usual. After you mentioned the nests in that pantry to Lido, and him to Ouranos, he asked if we could make an effort for him."

"And since we want to get along, and well, monster nests mean lots of magic stone, we've all been working on it." Fear added, "Let has been leading our smaller monsters around in the darker corners of the upper floors, partially for training, and because they're good at hiding."

"Let..." I tried to think, "That was the little goblin fellow, favours a red cap?" I'd only met him in passing, and he'd never met us topside.

"Yeah." Bell nodded, "He's very reliable. He actually took Mr. Marius's old armour and made into something for himself."

"That wreck of metal that got left on the tenth?" Welf asked, "Wow... Pretty clever."

"How's Loki Familia treating you guys?" Aisha asked.

"Well... I think the word is 'begrudgingly' respectful?" Fear replied, touching her feathery 'wrist' to her chin, "Most of them don't mind us, some of them however don't want anything to do with us."

"Lemme guess?" I held my hand out, just a little over my head, "This tall, grumpy, silver hair?"

"Yup!" Ray nodded, then paused, "How'd you know?"

"Bete only respects strength, and sees all offers of assistance as 'pity'." Mikoto said, "It is a poor attitude for a warrior."

We all nodded, "He also took 'letting you escape' personally." I said, "Though, that might have been because Ha-chan and I beat him." I shrugged, "If he gives you any real trouble, lemme know. I'll stuff him in a box for you and throw him into the ocean or something."

We continued the rest of the way in amicable silence. Aside from the occasional 'this way' or 'over here', the halls of Gnossis were silent. However, it wasn't an 'oppressive' silence of a mine or a tomb. Magic stone lamps and the occasional spot of 'personal touch' made even the sparse habitation of the tunnels feel 'lived in', like a real home.

Finally we got to one of the natural transitions between dungeon and 'frontier' zone, and I spotted a small metal spike that had been driven into the floor at the edge of a wide pool of fresh water.

"Lilly put this here!" She said, pointing to the spike as we stopped, "Mr. Marius suggested the rope thing as well." As she explained, she was already going through her pack for rope. "It was a really good idea."

"He's human, so losing your way, underwater, in the dark, while wearing heavy armour? Bad idea." I said, "Divers back home do the same thing. Even with proper equipment, like air bladders and goggles, and even underwater torches, they make sure to have something like this if they can." I explained, "Break for a little food, and then we go for a swim."

We all nodded, and after Lilly had secured the rope, she got our dried rations from the watertight containers. It wasn't much, just a little meat and bread, but it was bog standard fuel for the adventurer on the go.

"Once we're on the other side, we'll be fighting a lot, since our friends will attract monsters who've spawned already." Bell said, "Miss Ray, Miss Fear? Can you wait a few minutes before crossing under, so we can dry out a little and clear the room on the other side?"

"Sure. It will hopefully give us time to dry out a little as well. We aren't ducks. Wet feathers are no fun to fight with."

"Well, you have the proper clothes at least." Aisha grinned. The two Xenos were dressed much like an Amazon, in 'just enough' to look civil. It would dry quickly at least. "I kind of wish you weren't so insistent on armour." She looked down at herself, in that nice form fitting and protective leather armour that was -mostly- standard for the Familia.

"Ha-chan, and I, both like your skin how it is. Nice and smooth, without monster bites." I took off my helmet just so I could wink at her, "That's our job." I then pretended to ignore Bell as I ate, and he blushed as red as Welf's hair.

NOTES!

Well, once more into the dungeon! Woo! See you again in five days, where everything goes sideways in all the ways!

I mean, unless something bad happens. Like my router imploding and needing a factory reset because of some silly thing. Or someone's kitchen sink falls on me while I unload a truck... Small parcel shipping company... bah!

Daeore on Ko-Fi, if you want to toss a coin to your writer.

Daeore on Inkitt, if you want to read my actual novel, 'Were-too?'