Author´s Note1: To make it clear, Miach didn´t flirt with Alfia in the last chapter, it was just his usual nature, he wanted to calm her down. It looked out of character for Alfia, but it was in fact in character for Miach. In the main story it was shown that he had this effect on women, even when he didn´t meant to flirt with them, I just wanted to show what happened when he surprised Alfia like that. Don´t worry, Naza is the one that belongs to Miach and Alfia won´t get a partner.
Please don´t think I will bring all characters together just because they are nice to each other.
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Bell Cranel´s heart beat really fast at the moment. A part of it was excitement that he met the one who had saved him from the minotaur in the dungeon. And for the other, because his crush stood right in front of him...and glared at him.
Dear gods, she is so beautiful even when she is angry.
Most of the pub looked into their direction, due to Lefiya yelling out he should let go of Ryu. He got a bit overwhelmed when he saw Ryu, he wanted to thank his saviour. Now the still embarrassed elf stood next to Lefiya, who looked really agitated.
"How dare you to just touch Ms. Ryu´s hand! You brute! Do you not know shame?!"
Bell had forgotten for a second that elves didn´t allowed most people to touch their skin and he had just grabbed his saviour´s hand!
"S-Sorry! It just came over me."
"Haaaaa?! It just came over you to grab Ms. Ryu´s precious, pure, untouched, smooth hand?!"
He heard a few laughs from the side, from the table where Lefiya came from.
"There Lefi goes again, adoring Leon again! And her hand isn´t untouched, I touched it before." The red haired woman laughed.
"You are a woman, that doesn´t count!"
Now Bell got aware what he had done and bowed down in apology.
"I´m really sorry!"
Ryu coughed slightly to cover her embarrassement.
"It´s alright, as long as you understand."
Bell´s familia members just watched the scene from behind.
Ryu´s eyes fell for a second on Haruhime, Kaguya at the table of the Astrea familia smirked.
"Thank you again for saving me! And I´m sorry that I just ran away from you without thanking you."
"No, I understand, you were in shock."
"Grml." Lefiya still glared at Bell.
She is so cute when she is angry!
After Bell´s next apology, a kind of awkward silence followed. Thankfully there was a red haired angel who had the perfect personality to jump in. And Alise literally jumped in between Bell and Ryu, from her chair, over the table, such was the skill of a level six.
"And stooooop right here young man!"
Alise made sure that her body was between the perplexed Bell and the surprised Ryu.
"A-Alise? Eek!"
Ryu squeaked when Alise turned around and put her arms protectively around Ryu, shoving her back a bit.
"Alise, what are you doing? Let me go!"
"No waaay! He already grabbed your hand, if he touches your ears next, you will have to marry him!"
Her fellow non elf familia members looked shocked at Alise´s words, even Astrea.
Neze looked at Viana. "Is that true?!"
"I am a dark elf, I don´t know about the custom of forest elves."
Lyra glanced to Filvis. "Is our captain right?"
"I don´t know, it was different in my forest."
Laurier looked surprised too. "Is that how it is in other forests?!"
Astrea clapped her hands together and looked part worried, part excited at Ryu.
"Ryu, is that true?"
"It is noooot! Alise, what are you saying?! You bring me into trouble again!"
"When did I ever bring you into trouble, Leon?"
"Shall I remember you of the day with Ardi?!"
"Oh you mean the justice sandwich? Man that was awesome..."
"It was not! You two always had your way with me!"
Ryu noticed in the second that she yelled that out, that this would cause a huge misunderstanding.
Kaguya clapped a hand over her mouth and looked abashed to the side, like a high born noble woman. "O-Oh my...Leon was two timing them? How lewd..."
"I was not! Argh, what are you all making me say again!"
Lefiya tried to save the situation. "Please calm down, Ms. Ryu, it is all this human´s fault!"
"Lefi is right, and Leon belongs to me alone, I am the captain after all!"
"Aliseeee! Enough with your jok-"
"MY SHOP ISN`T FOR THINGS LIKE THAT!"
Immediatelly after the poweful voice boomed through the pub, Alise jumped away from Ryu and all of the members of the Astrea familia stopped teasing them. Mia Grande had this special talent, that even gods backed down before her.
Astrea smiled apologetically. "I´m sorry, Mia. My girls will behave now."
"They better do or they will work double shifts! And you others, stop staring and get back to work!"
A human woman with short hair and two cat girls, one with brown hair, the other with black hair, hurried back to work.
Another human woman with grey hair, walked with her tray to the head of the table.
"Lady Astrea, here is your special drink."
"Thank you, Syr."
Lyra smirked. "Why does she get her drink before everyone else?"
"Because lady Astrea is your goddess and she always starts with the same drink, so I already prepared it for her."
After Alise went back to her chair and sat down, Lefiya also wanted to go back. She looked at Bell for a last time, but when she turned around, her eyes fell on someone behind him. A gold haired fox woman that looked like purity itself. And when said fox woman smiled slightly to Lefiya, she had to turn her eyes away or she would get blinded.
Wh-What a pure, gentle smile! She almost smiles like a goddess!
In Lefiya´s eyes, Haruhime was one of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. But looking at her was as if she looked into the sun.
Ryu sighed a bit but smiled. "Please excuse the behaviour of my familia."
"Ah no, I am the one that should feel sorry, I forgot my manners. I beg your pardon for touching your hand so suddenly."
She looked at her hand for a moment, but she didn´t felt disgusted. "It´s okay, please stop apologizing the whole time."
"Y-Yes, understood."
Ryu had finally a chance to calm down, thankfully, Syr noticed that she wanted to talk to the white haired boy and jumped in for her at work.
"So, Mr...Cranel, right?"
"Yes, Bell Cranel."
Ryu bowed slightly forward. "I also would like to apologize, it was nearly too late. And-"
"No, I am the one th-"
A short but dangerous gleam appeared in Ryu´s eyes.
"Mr. Cranel, my pride as an elf demands it, it is bad manners to interrupt someone who is apologizing like that."
Bell gulped slightly, the second thing he had forgotten about elves, was their pride.
A voice came from behind Bell. "Mr. Bell, I think you should accept her apology, just like you want her to accept yours."
Bell nodded. "Right."
Ryu nodded too. "Then we will leave it at that."
She knew that her familia eyes her, but this was important for Ryu.
"Were you wounded by the minotaur? It was hard to see with all that blood."
"No, just a few bruises, thanks to you."
"That is good, it would be bad if that monster got you."
"I can only agree."
Ryu glanced to Naza and Haruhime.
"Oh this is my captain and my familia member."
"You are the Miach familia, right?"
"Yes we are."
"My goddess is a friend of lord Miach."
Before Ryu could continue, a female figure appeared next to her.
"Now this got my curiosity."
"Lady Astrea?"
The goddess smiled to the table. "Hello Naza."
Naza nodded with a slight smile. "Goddess Astrea, good evening..."
"How is Miach?"
"Lord Miach is out to drink with lord Takemikazuchi, lady Hephaistos and lady Hestia..."
"Oh, he could´ve told me, it´s been a while that I saw my cousins."
Bell and Haruhime blinked perplexed, as did Ryu.
"Your cousins, lady Astrea?"
"Yes, Hestia and Hephaistos are my cousins, Hestia is my oldest cousin, but don´t say that when she is close nearby. I have many siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles."
It was always strange to hear the gods talk about these things. Bell had seen Hestia once in the city when she ran past him on his first day, he had later learned who that was. And the goddess Hestia looked way too young to be the oldest..but then again his grandfather had told him a bit about the gods of Olympia.
Wait...wait wait...does that make...grandpa...lady Astrea´s...father?! Or uncle? A brother?! I am confused...
Bell couldn´t help but look with an open mouth at Astrea...something that Ryu noticed.
"Mr. Cranel, would you please not look at my goddess like that?"
"S-Sorry! This information was just a bit much."
"Why that?"
"I uh ahm..er...I mean, you don´t normally hear about gods having siblings or parents."
"True."
Astrea smiled. "Hehe, Lunor´s goddess Demeter is also my aunt. For a goddess I am quite young."
The goddess giggled at her own joke, the mortals didn´t really got it, it was a joke among gods.
"So, it was Miach´s child that my Ryu saved, now that is something."
"I thought lord Miach wanted to come and thank you personally, lady Astrea..."
"Oh he came to our home, but I wasn´t there, we had no chance to meet for the last days."
"Then I as the familia´s captain, would like to thank you, goddess Astrea. And you too Gale Wind..."
Astrea smiled but shook her head. "My little Ryu´s alias isn´t Gale Wind anymore, it´s Aeola Ventus."
Haruhime looked in awe at Ryu. "A goddess?"
"Mhh..." Ryu was not too happy about her alias, but that was the goal of the gods, to have fun with the mortals and especially their idols.
"I will also tell lord Miach to go and thank you..."
"Oh it´s okay, since Mr. Cranel and you thanked us, it is enough. Is everything going well with your familia?"
"It is, thank you. We have two new members as you can see..."
"It´s good to see that Miach´s familia is growing again. Now then, please excuse me but I´d like to kidnap Ryu, we have something to celebrate as a familia."
Miach´s followers nodded and wished them a nice evening. Haruhime noticed that the black haired woman with the silver arm looked at her. When their eyes met, Kaguya winked conspiratorially.
Bell returned his eyes to his familia.
"Lord Miach knows lady Astrea? And they are friends? They are one of the most powerful familias in Orario."
Haruhime smiled. "This is so exciting."
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"Ms. Naza?"
"Bell, I think it is okay to just call me Naza..."
"I will try it, does lord Miach and lady Astrea know each other for a long time?"
"I would say, long for you and me, not long for them."
"Hm."
Haruhime looked curious. "Mr. Bell?"
"I am just thinking, how much time would it take for us to reach their strength."
Naza smiled slighly. "A long time, they were one of the strongest forces in the dark times, nine years ago. And they were even strong before that time started. If I remember right, their strongest members were nearly level four at the end of the dark times..."
"Oh, that i-"
A voice interrupted Bell´s answer. "Actually Kaguya, Leon and me were level four!"
The three looked up and saw a grinning redhead.
Next this redhead got slightly scolded by her goddess and Ryu.
"It is not nice to eavesdrop, Alise."
"Lady Astrea is right."
"I didn´t eavesdrop, I just have level six ears! Leon I´m sure you heard them too, you have level six plus ears."
Every elf of the Astrea familia heard the conversation of the Miach familia, since they didn´t sat far away.
Bell looked amazed. "So it took them nearly nine years to reach level six?"
"No, the captain of the familia reached level six over a year ago, the vice captain and the elf that saved you followed later."
Haruhime took a sip of her drink. "I can´t even imagine how strong someone at level six is. Aisha is very strong already, but I guess she didn´t stood a chance against even one of them."
Even when she had scolded Alise slightly, even Astrea couldn´t help but hear them and she smiled proud. "No wonder, all of my girls are very strong."
It looked like the conversation of the Miach familia now included also the Astrea familia, not that any of them complained. Naza glanced from time to time at Kaguya, especially her arm. Kaguya of course noticed the glances and her eyes wandered to Naza´s covered arm. Ever since she showed her silver arm openly, some people in Orario looked at her in a special way.
All of these people had one thing in common, they kept one or two limbs covered. And while Naza had a short sleeve on the left side and showed most of her arm, including her hand, the right arm was completely covered and she wore a leather glove.
Kaguya smirked slightly, raised her mug with her silver hand and took several deep sips of her drink, making sure to not cover her silver arm in the slightest. It wasn´t like Kaguya wanted to tease or anger Naza, she just showed her that there was nothing to be ashamed about this limb.
Bell´s eyes noticed the silver arm too. And Kaguya noticed that he had noticed.
Now Kaguya smirked and looked directly into his eyes. "First grabbing Leon´s hand and now oggling my silver arm, you are quite shameful, Mr. Cranel."
"Eh?! O-Oh, S-Sorry, I didn´t meant to stare."
"Well I don´t forbid it, there is no reason to."
"I just...I´m sorry...I just feel sorry for you losing your arm."
Kaguya took another sip and her cheeks were already slightly pink. "I don´t."
"You don´t?"
"No, this is my ultimate badge of honor. There is nothing to be ashamed of."
"A badge of honor?"
Kaguya´s eyes wandered to Naza again and she talked more to her than to Bell. "I lost my arm in the dungeon, a monster took it from me. But I survived, so I count myself lucky instead of unlucky. And also, I lost this arm because I protected Leon. All of Orario shall see this and know, I am not ashamed of losing my natural arm! This is how much my familia means to me! This much and way more! And to everyone that got a silver limb I can just say *Hic*, wear it with pride. You went into th-*Hic*-e dunsheon and returned alivvve after you sh-should have died!"
She slurred a little, but she wasn´t completely drunk, that would be too fast after just having two mugs so far.
The far eastern girl raised her arm so that Bell, Naza and Haruhime could take a good look at it.
"This is my honor and no one can take it away from me. Leon wouldn´t be alive if I hadn´t done it, so it was more than worth it."
Ryu heard Kaguya bragging about it and she looked a bit embarrassed. "And I will never stop thanking you for that, Kaguya. But please don´t yell so much or Mama Mia will get angry again."
"Mh, you´re right."
Kaguya winked a last time to Naza, then she talked to her familia again.
Haruhime looked a bit shocked. "She has tattoos on her arm, dear heavens."
Bell showed her a questioning look.
"O-Only criminals have these in the far east."
"Really?"
"Yes, it is bad manners to have such a thing."
Kaguya´s voice echoed over from the table of the astrea familia. "Ha! Spoken like a noble lady! Quite a few in my clan had these."
"Y-Your clan?"
Kaguya showed Haruhime a smug grin.
"Gojouno Kaguya, at your sevice, noble lady."
"G-G-G-Gojouno?!"
The smile that Kaguya showed was a bit mean. "Yes, rings a bell?"
"Hauuu..."
Haruhime looked a bit frightened.
"Ahem, Kaguya." Astrea looked at her follower with a serious expression.
"I just wanted to tease her a bit, lady Astrea."
Kaguya winked at Haruhime a last time and formed with her lips the word "Sanyjouno". So she knew exactly what Haruhime was.
"Buuut my family name or my clan doesn´t mean anything to me anymore. I am a member of the Astrea familia and that is all that counts, my loyalitly lies only with you lady Astrea."
"I know that, Kaguya."
Alise grinned when she heard Kaguya´s words and raised her own mug.
"Good words, Kaguya. In the name of Justice!"
Over a dozen voices answered her and the Astrea familia smashed their mugs against each other, laughing loud and drinking happily, the elves held back as much as their pride demanded. Soon the first plates of food came, Bell noticed that the elves preffered vegetables over meat, but they ate it.
Bell got a bit red, out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Lefiya´s pink lips when she moved her fork to her mouth.
C-Calm down, me! What am I doing, oggling at her like that?!
Bell tried to focus more on his familia, but soon his eyes wandered to Haruhime´s pink lips.
Argh!
Naza looked at Bell´s mug.
"Ahm, Bell...did you drink alcohol before?..."
"Huh?"
"You know...there is a bit alcohol in this juice..."
"What?"
"Yeah, you should probably drink a bit slower..."
"Oh."
Bell looked at Haruhime again, who smiled.
"*Hic*"
Haruhime´s hiccup was the cutest sound he ever heard.
And then in the next second.
"Kchoo."
Bell heard Alise laugh. "Man Lefi, that was some cute sneeze."
I can only agree.
"Don´t call me Lefi, captain!"
"Sorry, gonna trea the V.I.P. special today."
"I didn´t do anything special."
"Whaaaat?! You are level three and dealt the final blow to Udaeus! The monster rex on the 37th Floor!"
"It was the work of all of us together and he was already weakened."
"Still, your magic was really incredible. Even when I´m a bit mad that you copy me and use fire magic."
"I don´t copy you, and I can´t change that I learned this spell."
Haruhime and Bell listened to them with big eyes.
Naza smirked slightly. "According to the records of the guild, the Astrea familia achieved the 51st floor already. So the 37th is not much for them..."
""Wow...""
"You two will get there too one day."
"Ehe...I think that will take a few years."
"At least."
Haruhime and Bell slowly prepared to go down to the 9th floor, but only with Alfia´s permission.
"Get used to each other first, then take one step after the other..."
""Yes, captain!""
Naza smiled, she started to really like her two fellow members.
Bell imagined how it might have looked, when his crush used some awesome magic to strike down a giant monster.
The evening went on for a while and it was really nice in that pub. Bell´s eyes nearly popped out when he heard how much money the Astrea familia had to pay at the end...and how easily Astrea paid it.
Most of the money that Bell and Haruhime had made at this day in the dungeon got spent at the pub, but it was a really nice evening.
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"Unf. Unf. Unf. Unf. Unf."
Mmmmh, this feels somewhat nice.
Haruhime didn´t slept in her usual bed, it was a very late night and she didn´t want to wake up Alfia. So instead she went to her familia´s home and slept on the couch, which wasn´t so bad. Before she fell asleep in her slight tipsy condition, it dawned her that Bell often had slept on this couch.
She didn´t knew how late it was, but she also didn´t cared, it was nice now and then to keep things easy. Just in case, Naza had given them all a bit of medicine to swallow before they went to sleep. Naza didn´t want to face Alfia´s wrath, when her son and her new "pupil" came to her lesson with a hangover.
Not that they got drunk at the pub, just a bit tipsy, but thanks to the medicine, they felt nothing from that.
What let Haruhime wake up, was a sound of heavy breathing close to her, the voice sounded familiar.
"Hm?"
Her ears perked into that direction, it was Bell´s voice. But what did he do so early in the morning, in case it was early in the morning.
Haruhime blinked and raised her head from the pillow that Naza gave her.
What awaited her as the first sight of the day...was...nice.
Oh my..
It was Bell. Bell with a white shirt on his upper body, that was a bit see through from sweat and he was doing push ups. Haruhime watched how he moved up and down, noticed how his back muscles tightened, because his shirt clung to his skin.
O-Oh my...
Sweat glistened on his neck, for a second, Haruhime looked at Bell´s butt, that was covered by light pants. She gulped.
Hiiii!
With a swift movement, Haruhime sat up, the blanket clutched to her body, just in case. This movement let Bell notice her, that she was awake. He turned his face to the side and smiled to her.
"Good morning, Ms. Haruhime."
"*Gulp*"
Bell stopped his up and down movements, somehow they made Haruhime incedibly flustered, but she didn´t knew why this specific movement. Then Bell got down to his knees, eventually to his feet and got up.
The sight that greeted Haruhime was even better than before. Now she was allowed to witness Bell´s muscular chest and abs, barely visible through the shirt, because they were covered with sweat from his early training. Sweat drops were running along his neck and vanished in the shirt. Haruhime felt her cheeks get really hot, this time she didn´t dared to follow his body with her eyes to his pants, because Bell would see where she was looking at, and from the front she would probably faint.
Ah...six pack...
Aisha had told her about this phenomenon. It was what women called, eye candy. Haruhime finally understood what that meant.
"Ms. Haruhime?"
"G-G-Good morning!"
Since the sight of the sweating Bell was way too much for Haruhime in the early morning, and she wanted to pretend Bell from seeing her flushed face, she hastily tried to get up. Which was a mistake or maybe a good thing to happen, depending on the point of view. The blanket moved fast as she tried to get her legs out of it and standing up at the same time. She managed to get up to her feet, but when Haruhime tried to turn and run to the bathroom, her legs got caught in the blanket.
"Kya!"
"Haruhime!"
Right when she started to fall, Bell made a fast step forward and catched her in his arms, she still stumbled into his direction, so her body got pressed against his.
Eh?
Oh.
The time stopped.
Haruhime looked with her green eyes into Bell´s red eyes, their faces were pretty close to each other. Now Haruhime felt how hot Bell´s body was from his training, each of her hands were on one of his biceps. She felt his hard, trained body pressed against her own, to feel his muscles made her knees weak. Were it not for Bell's strong, muscular arms around her, she would surely have dropped to her knees. But that's how he held her upright and pressed against him. Because of her extremely sensitive nose, she noticed his body odor...it only made her legs weaker. Her face couldn´t become more bright red.
And Bell, he felt Haruhime´s soft body pressed against him, felt her soft back, and two soft mounds pressed against his chest. The only thing that separated their skin was her white nightgown and his shirt.
B-B-Bell´s hard, sweaty body is pressed against my body and only a nightgown is between us?! Is this...is this...s-Hauuuuu!
The situation was far too stimulating for both.
Wh-What does he plan to do to me? P-Push me down?
Their ears twitched independently in different directions, up and down, left and right and her tail wagged heavily, someone who knew Haruhime very well, would see how excited and embarrassed she was at the same time...and how happy.
She noticed his lips again, they were so close...
Will he k-k-kiss me?!
That would make Haruhime very happy, her heart hammered like never before. She asked herself if she was in love, but no Haruhime wasn´t just in love, she was head over heels for Bell.
But, the outcome of this moment was already set in stone last night. After Miach had a talk with his good friend, this friend asked him if he and his familia could come over early in the morning. After hearing what their god had to say, his children could barely sleep and could not stop themself from running ahead of their god.
Due to their talk, Miach had unlocked the door to their home in the early morning, he didn´t thought they would come this early.
Lost in each others eyes for the moment, Bell and Haruhime didn´t heard the hasty steps that came closer. The door to their home got nearly ripped open and...well the couch stood so that it was visible from the entrance.
"Lady Haruhime!"
A young woman burst into the house, she had bluish-purple eyes and long black hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a purple kimono with a sarashi underneath, along with a dark red sash and thigh-length boots. The young woman also kept a katana in the sash at her waist. Normally she wore some armor parts, but not this morning.
The eyes of the young woman widened when she saw Haruhime and a happy smile appeared on her face.
"Lady Haruhime!"
Then she noticed the situation that Haruhime was in...and blushed heavily.
"M-Mikoto?!"
Haruhime couldn´t believe her eyes, but before she could say something, two additional figures barged into the small home.
A girl that was a bit shorter than the first one came in on the right side of the first one. This one had black medium length hair that covered her eyes, and when parted it would reveal that she had dark green eyes. She wore bandages around her neck and left upper leg as well as a lavender kimono with red cloth wrapped around her waist. Her only piece of armor would be red thigh piece on her left leg, but like the first one, she also left her armor home.
The third person that came in was a man. He was a tall, lightly tanned man with a tough build. The man had black hair and eyes, wearing a lavender, red, gold and black Kamishimo top along with brown pants tucked underneath long white bandages in black boots.
The girl also cried out.
"Haruhime!"
And the man joined them. "Ms. Haruhime!"
"Ms. Chigusa?! Mr. Ouka?!"
Haruhime wanted to separate herself from Bell, surprised to see her friends here. But when she did that, she pushed lightly with her hand against him...against his stomach.
"A-A gentleman´s...abdominal muscles...Kyuuu..."
"""Lady Haruhime!"""
Right in front of her childhood friends, Haruhime fainted in the arms of a young man that they had never seen before. Again all that prevented her from falling onto the ground were his strong arms.
This probably wasn´t the way they had planned to see each other again.
.
.
Nnnn...was it...a dream?
Haruhime slowly opened her eyes again.
"Lady Haruhime!"
"Eh? M-Mikoto?"
"Lady Haruhimeeeee!"
Haruhime noticed now that she was sitting on the couch, on her right side was Mikoto, who now leaned forward and hugged her. On the left side was Chigusa and did the same.
"Haruhime!"
"Ms. Chigusa?!"
Mikoto cried while she hugged Haruhime from the side. "I´m sho glaaaad!"
The two young women looked nothing like their usual selves and weren´t ashamed of their tears. Haruhime felt her eyes getting wet too and she sobbed.
"Mikoto! Chigusa!"
All three hugged each other and started to cry. The young man, Ouka, stood with crossed arms in front of the couch and nodded in a manly way.
At the side stood two gods next to each other.
"Miach, I´m sorry for barging in like that, I couldn´t stop them from running ahead."
"Ah, it´s okay Take. After what you told me last night, I should have expected that."
"Yeah, me too. I should have waited after breakfast for telling them."
"No, I guess it was better like this. Just look how happy they are to see each other again...Ah, thank you Naza."
Naza was so kind to make tea, but they didn´t had enough mugs for everyone. After Mikoto and Chigusa had rushed towards Bell and Haruhime, he had gently put Haruhime down on the couch. Since he didn´t knew what to do otherwise, Bell went to shower after his training was interrupted.
"I was really surprised when you told me that Haruhime is here."
"Maybe it was luck or fate."
"Perhabs, we didn´t even dared to hope to find her after she got deported from the far east."
"You can thank Bell for that, he was the one finding her."
"Your child, right?"
"Yes, he is currently in the shower."
"Then I have to thank him especially...and probably apologize for Mikoto and Chigusa."
Miach smiled slightly. "I guess they were just shocked to see Haruhime in Bell´s arms, fainting."
"They were, but that didn´t excused Mikoto from wanting to draw her katana for a second."
"Well she didn´t did it."
"Still, she lacks the discipline of a warrior."
"Hehe, still the wargod I see."
"I am a wargod after all."
Naza looked like she was a bit troubled. "Lord Miach?..."
"Yes, my dear?"
"Ahm, Bell and Haruhime are late to go to Ms. Cranel..."
"Oh oh."
Takemikazuchi looked at him. "Miach?"
"Bell´s mother, she is teaching Haruhime and Bell about the dungeon. She...doesn´t like it when they are late."
"Then she has to wait a bit, I feel a bit sorry bit it is like this."
"You haven´t met her."
"Does she get angry easily?"
"If it only were li-"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Naza gulped slightly and looked at her god, they knew exactly who´s knocking that was.
"Lord...Miach?..."
"I guess we should´ve told her, please, let her in, Naza."
Takemikazuchi looked curious while Naza opened the door. When Alfia came inside, Bell came from the bathroom again.
"Mom?"
"Bell, you´re late, again."
"Oh, sorry. Something happened."
Alfia´s eyes wandered to the couch.
"I can guess from the sight that this is some touching reunion, but it would be nice if you could sent me some kind of message when you are coming later. Did I raise you like this?"
"I´m sorry Mom, really."
"You´re forgetting me more and more ever since you met this girl."
"It isn´t like this, I swear!"
Miach made a step forward, Alfia pulled her hands away in reflex.
"Ms. Cranel, the fault is mine, not Bell´s. I told my friend, Takemikazuchi, about Haruhime. He and his familia know her from the past, I invited him to come at this morning. So please don´t blame Bell."
"It seems you have a bad influence on my son, god Miach."
Miach smiled wryly. "I really try my best, it was a special reunion for them. Also don´t worry, I won´t touch your hand again."
Alfia sighed. "Fine, I will let this go. But I expect you to do it better next time, Bell."
Then she looked at Miach again. "I appreciate that you won´t try to touch me again."
"Naza scolded me for acting so casually with women. It was never my intention to try to flirt with you."
"She is right, you should hold back a bit."
I feel a bit sorry for that Chientrope.
But Alfia wasn´t finished with Miach. "You should also consider the feelings of those around you, of your familia members before you act so casually to a woman."
Naza got a bit red by Alfia´s words, but said nothing, she didn´t looked too happy that Alfia spoke about Naza´s feelings, even when it was hidden.
"I will keep that in mind."
Takemikazuchi watched with a serious face how Miach got scolded by that silver haired woman.
"I also have to apologize, Ma´am. I got too excited and told my children that Haruhime is here, it is my mistake for not holding them back enough."
Alfia was surprised about the god´s apology, but she didn´t showed it, it was rare that gods were like this and admitted their mistakes.
Then she looked at the couch, thankfully Mikoto and Chigusa had put one of Haruhime´s long, red kimonos on on her while she was unconcious.
"It looks like you know her pretty well."
The far eastern god nodded.
"We lived in a shrine in the far east, not too far away from the Mansion that Haruhime lived in. It is a long story, but these three always snucked out, played with her, kept her company. They were what we call "Childhood friends", all of us were very sad when she was sent away. When we moved to Orario, we hoped we might find her here, but we found no clue so far."
"What happened to her might not be the kind of story you want to hear."
"You know what happened?"
"Yes, but it is for her to tell you that or not. I will just say that much, it was my son that rescued her and saved her life."
"Really?!"
Takemikazuchi turned around to Bell.
"You saved her, young man?"
"Ahm, I guess? But I had help, Ms. Haruhime also saved my life."
Takemikazuchi made two quick steps and put his hands on Bell´s shoulders.
"Thank you, young man! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! You don´t know how much she means to us, I will never forget that you have done this for her! That you even brought your life in danger to save her! Please know that the eternal gratitude is with you!"
Then the god really surprised Bell, he let go of him, pressed his hands against his sides and bowed down in front of Bell.
"Thank you so much!"
Bell was more than just surprised, a god shouldn´t do something like that.
"P-Please raise your head, lord Takemikazuchi!"
"No, what you have done is more than I can say with words, I must perform "Dogeza" to thank you!"
Bell had read this word somewhere before, it was an ancient technique of the far east.
But suddenly, the black haired maiden on the couch jumped up.
"Lord Takemikazuchi, you must not! Dogeza is too strong against a person who doesn´t know about it!"
"*Gasp* You are right!"
The one with shorter hair looked embarrassed for some reason. "Both of you please stop with that Dogeza!"
The man, Ouka, nodded again. "A warrior must not bow his head so easily, but he must show gratitude. Truly, I still have much to learn from lord Takemikazuchi."
"Ouka, not you too!"
Bell didn´t knew what he should think of this...strange...familia.
Now the beautiful maiden, Mikoto, stopped in front of Bell.
"Sir Cranel."
"Ahm, Bell is enough."
She nodded. "Sir Bell, you have my deepest gratitude for saving lady Haruhime. She a very dear friend of mine, my best friend since Ouka and Chigusa are like my siblings. You have my word as a Shinobi and a Samurai, whatever it is that you need, that you desire, I will help you."
While Bell was touched, Alfia´s eyes went small when she heard the phrase "whatever you desire", even when Mikoto didn´t meant it in any lewd way.
"Ms...Mikoto, right? I heard your oath and I will keep it in mind and honor it. When the time comes, I will ask for your help."
This answer seemed strange to come from Bell, but he had read a lot about far eastern warriors and how much their honor meant to them. Saying that this wasn´t needed, would only make Mikoto more eager to do it and probably dishonor her, and Bell didn´t want this. The title "Samurai" was what brought Bell to this conclusion.
In one of his books, he had read about a far eastern hero, a samurai. They were a special type of warrior, that held up their honor at all cost. If they were dishonored, they would cut open their bellies. They lost a fight, they cut open their bellies. They failed to protect their lord, cut open their bellies.
So if Bell would fail to reckognize Mikoto as a warrior, she would be dishonored and he didn´t want such a beautiful girl to open her short kimono and cut open her belly.
Ouka nodded satisfied, as did Takemikazuchi and Miach smiled proud. Alfia was quite pleased how well Bell managed the situation.
"So ahm, I have an idea."
They all looked at them, his eyes wandered to Haruhime.
"Ms. Haruhime, how about it. You haven´t seen each other for years, what would you think if you spend the day with them and I would use the day to spend with my mother?"
Alfia´s eyes shone when she heard Bell´s idea.
"Mr. Bell, would that...be okay? I mean, we planned to go to the dungeon later."
"It is okay, you should use the chance to talk to each other."
Haruhime smiled, her heart grew more and more warm for Bell.
Alfia felt her Mommy senses tingle when she saw Haruhime´s smile.
Don´t get carried away, you vixen. My bunny baby will not so easily be your feast.
Bell´s reputation grew in the eyes of the Takemikazuchi familia again. He just saw that Haruhime really wanted to spend some time with her dear friends and he would give her that.
Haruhime, Chigusa and Mikoto talked to each other quietly about something.
"Ahm, Mr. Bell?"
"Yes?"
"Hauuu...I´m sorry I am so daring, but would it be okay to take today and tomorrow a day off?"
He noticed that she pushed her ears against her head and her tail against her legs, she was really ashamed of her request, to be so lazy.
But Bell only smiled. "No, it is okay. Then I will spend today with my mother and help tomorrow with the shop."
Then Haruhime turned to Miach. "Lord Miach, would you allow it that I spend the night at the home of the Takemikazuchi familia?"
The two gods exchanged a look.
"Have fun, enjoy to meet your friends again."
Not only Haruhime, but Mikoto and Chigusa also looked very happy.
Mikoto immediatelly turned to Ouka and Takemikazuchi, but they stopped her.
Ouka nodded in his manly way. "We will take two days off from the dungeon too."
And Takemikazuchi smiled. "You don´t need to ask if Haruhime can have a sleepover, she can come at any time. Today with we have a feast! A feast I say! But a small feast...we don´t have that much money."
These two days would turn out to be a wonderful idea. Alfia had Bell all for herself at this day and she enjoyed the time with him. They strolled through the city, did this and that, ate together at a diner and he even slept at her house, it had been a while since they had a mother son day. And just like he promised, he helped with his familia´s shop. Naza eyes shone when she started to work with her plan. Even when all of her feelings were for Miach alone, she admitted that Bell was quite handsome...and she knew how to use this. They used a small handcart to move their goods to the main plaza in front of Babel. Miach and Bell were perfect to draw young, female adventurers in and sell potions to them.
One of those young, female adventurers, was a brown haired elf that just passed by and noticed them.
It´s this human again! What is he doing this time? Oh, is his familia selling potions?
Lefiya stopped in the shadow of a tree and watched for a few minutes. She head no particular reason why she watched, it just came over her.
Hm, when he is not forcing his hands on innocent elven maidens, he works quite hard. I wonder where the Renart is.
It was somewhat adorable how happy they were to sell potions and make a bit of money, it wasn´t much compared to what her own familia made in the dungeon. Her time to watch them ended when her dungeon partner arrived.
"Lefiya, I´m here."
"Filvis, shall we go?"
"Of course, oh, which familia is that?"
"Miach familia, it is the boy from yesterday who grabbed Ms. Ryu´s hand..."
"Oh...filthy..."
"Yeah..."
Bell felt a slight chill as if someone was staring at his back, but he kept up with his work. Eventually the chilly feeling ended, by chance he turned into the direction of Babel for a moment and noticed a very beautiful elven maiden.
Hah...Ms. Lefiya...
He had a strange feeling in his heart, the part that was meant for romantic love, got separated into two perfectly even parts.
And Lefiya Viridis couldn´t know it at this point, but from now on she would start to see Bell Cranel more often by chance, in various situations in Orario and sometimes Babel.
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Two weeks later.
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"And then Mikoto told me all about their journey towards Orario, how they started to explore the dungeon just like we do now!"
"It looks like you really enjoyed it. And did you find the café that they wanted to show you?"
"I did! I am so happy to see them all again. We promised to see each other now and then. And yes, we found it. Hah...the sweets there are so delicious...but also so sinful, we can´t eat them often..."
Haruhime went often to the home of the Takemikazuchi familia in the north-east of Orario, Bell had accompanied her a few times. He could understand that she needed this, but except for the first two days, she never skipped a dungeon day with him, except of course when they took a day off, which was also important.
She also got used more to her new familia and helped a lot. Naza couldn´t stop grinning when the whole familia went in front of Babel and sold potions and other things there. Her god and her two fellow members were excellent baits. And just as he had promised, Miach was a bit careful how he acted towards women.
A regular customer now was the Takemikazuchi familia, but Miach insisted on giving them a twenty percent discount.
"So Ms. Haruhime...I´m sorry for asking this, but don´t you want to go into their familia?"
Haruhime shook her head.
"No, I belong to yo-...to the Miach familia now. It is enough for me to see them so often now, I really like our familia."
She sounded the like was about to panic, Haruhime nearly said out loud that she belonged to Bell now...
"Then we should do our best together, so that we won´t lose against them in the dungeon."
"Yes!"
Haruhime´s outfit had changed slightly, just like Mikoto, she now used a shoulder guard on her left side, but a smaller one than her friend. She was still more a magician than an archer, but a little bit protection was never bad. It was also smart, since they intended to go down to the 9th floor today.
But as Naza said, Bell got a magician, a supporter and an archer in one person, in a way.
I am Mr. Bell´s personal allround supporter!
The way down to the 9th was quick, since they were able to move in the wake of a larger group that was heading further down.
"Let us begin then."
"I am behind you, Mr. Bell."
The amount and size of rooms increases and the length of the hallways between them become shorter, compared to the 8th floor. Also, the ceiling changed height from three to four meters from the floors above to nearly ten meters. Moss covered the brown colored walls and the ground below was a short grass plain. The strong light from the phosphorescence above was similar to light from the sun. The monsters were the same as in all the floors above them, but in a stronger version.
So even goblins were nothing to laugh at.
The monsters spawned faster than on the 8th floor, so they were careful.
Haruhime needed a while to get used to her shoulder guard. Often enough she had to defend herself with the bow or evade monsters, due to her low status, this floor was a bit difficult for her. But Bell was always there to protect her if necessary. But Haruhime didn´t wanted to be the damsel in distress all the time. After having talked with Aisha, Lena, Mikoto and Chigusa, Haruhime wanted to walk at Bell´s side, not behind him.
Ouch!
A Goblin had hit her with his dungeon club, even with the shoulder guard in the way, it hurt. But Alfia had teached her that her endurance would only rise if she actually got hit. Most mages tended to be rather fragile, so when they moved down deeper into the dungeon, Haruhime would get a problem. From the 10th floor onwards appeared different monsters and getting hit by an Orc could mean death for her, Bell had the status to deal with that.
She made a quick step back and whiped her bow forward, hitting the cheek of the goblin. That didn´t really dealt damage, but it distracted the Goblin. While Bell fought against four monsters at once, she had more than enough to do with this one. She was of course a bit afraid, but not much...her hero was with her.
Alfia had explained a technique to her that she wanted to try. Right after slapping the cheek of the goblin with her bow, Haruhime hastily pulled an arrow out of her quiver and thrust it forward to the eye of the Goblin. But on a first try, techniques like that never worked. The Goblin blocked and broke her arrow with his club, then he hit against her leg.
"Aah!"
That hit really hurt and Haruhime hobbled backwards, the Goblin charging after her. The next swing of the club ripped the bow out of her hand, the only weapon she had now on her body, was a short dagger. But that wouldn´t help, she was too weak to defeat a Goblin like that. Her ears told her that Bell was still fighting, it looked like more monsters had appeared.
I can do this!
She hobbled backwards and tried her best to act as good as possible. Showing the Goblin that she was in panic wasn´t hard, Haruhime was used to panic. But when she stumbled and fell backwards, that was quite an act. The Goblin immediatelly jumped at her, the club raised. Alfia told Haruhime about this tactic, that monsters on the upper floors got easily fooled when it looked like they had the chance for a killing blow. A Goblin was also the only monster she could try that with, against a Killer Ant she had no chance.
Now!
Haruhime found her balance back, jumped forward and tackled the surprised Goblin.
"Aaaaah!"
"Guergh!"
Her dagger found the way to the Goblin´s throat and cut deep, blood spurted out.
I will not be a hindrance for Bell!
Her heart raced and not only out of adrenaline. The Goblin fell backwards and grabbed it´s throat, gurgling before it twitched and soon stopped to move.
It was the first monster she ever defeated in close combat.
"Ms. Haruhime!"
She panted heavily as she got up and turned around to Bell.
"Mr. Bell, I did it!"
The sight of Haruhime was something else, the Goblin´s blood hat hit her clothes and a bit even her face. It looked quite fearsome and yet she smiled to happy and innocent, even when she looked like a bloodthirsty fox right now.
"That was wonderful, but did you get hurt?"
"Only a little bit."
"Good, but are you sure? All this blood..."
"Blood?"
Haruhime looked down on herself and touched the wetness on her cheek.
"So much...b-blood..."
She got more than a bit green in the face, turned hastily to the side and leaned forward. Bell was fast enough to hold her hair up as Haruhime threw up against the dungeon wall.
She still had a long way ahead of her.
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When they were back home after a long day, both showered and Miach updated their status again. Haruhime insisted on Bell´s status getting updated first, since he let her shower first. Naza always smirked when they acted like that, it was a cute sight.
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Bell Cranel
Belongs to: Miach Familia
Level: 1
Strength: A 899
Endurance: S 930
Dexterity: S 914
Agility: S 930
Magic: S 901
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Bell´s skill "Blood of Zeus" helped his status a bit to rise more constantly once he hit the A rank somewhere. So for nearly one month exploring the dungeon now, his growth was quite something.
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Haruhime Sanjyouno
Belongs to: Miach Familia
Level: 1
Strength: G 260
Endurance: G 270
Dexterity: G 261
Agility: G 250
Magic: E 602
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Her magic hadn´t grown that much, she had only used her spell two times, focussing more on her other points. For the rearguard, growing like that in a bit over two weeks was quite something.
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"Hah..."
"Lord Miach?"
"A skill."
"Huh?"
"A skill has appeared for Haruhime."
"""What?!"""
Naza, Bell and Haruhime were equally surprised.
Haruhime´s tail wagged excited. "What does it do?"
"I don´t know if I should read that out loud."
"Why not?"
Miach handed her a note, he had written it down for her. Naza and Bell watched how Haruhime read the note, then she started to squeal and turned bright red.
"Ms. Haruhime, what does it do?"
"N-N-N-Nothing!"
Haruhime looked in panic at her god.
Miach smiled. "I won´t say anything, don´t worry."
"Mmmmm..."
Miach looked at the other two. "Bell, Naza, please give Haruhime some time before she talks about her skill, okay?"
Both nodded.
Haruhime was pretty flustered.
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The Fox and the Rabbit.
Slightly increased growth as long as close to chosen "prey", the rabbit. Can locate the rabbit when close enough. Skill will remain active as long as feelings of affection remain. Grants immunity to charm by any other person than the rabbit.
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Miach understood why Haruhime was so embarrassed. This skill basically yelled out to the world that she was deeply in love with Bell. But if he read the movement of her tail right, she was also quite happy.
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Two days later, before Haruhime and Bell went into the dungeon, they heard rumors in Orario.
A unicorn was spotted outside of the city and it looked like the guild issued a quest.
Haruhime heard this rumor before Bell could, due to her fine ears. She knew about Bell´s list, a unicorn horn was among the things he needed.
And a certain elf of the Astrea familia also heard about this quest.
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Author`s Note2: I would like to thank for all the Reviews again, I am happy that people can enjoy this story. To make it clear, no Haruhime doesn´t have Liaris Freese 2.0. I have something planned with this skill in the future, but I won´t spoil what.
Also, I forgot to answer an earlier question, that Alfia destroyed the Pleasure Quarter was the only time she would take nearly all the work away from Bell.
And I will say that much, similar to the early LNs, Bell will get other pieces of equipment and weapons, not only his sword.
Also, I won´t turn Haruhime into an archer or magical archer, I just wanted to give her something that she could do instead of waiting all the time.