Chapter 72
Even if the children and I had played a prank on them, the star cat girls of the Hostess couldn't stay mad at me. Especially when they were covered in snoozing foxes. So, moment of excitement over, leaving me with Toshi in my lap we got down to business.
"So, the plan as it stands with the Gate, is that they close it tomorrow for about thirty days." I said, giving all kinds of gentle headpats to my boy, "While the Gate is off, I plan on making as much money as possible to cover the costs."
"While you were gone, there was an announcement about it across the city." Bell said, "I was surprised by the reaction!"
"Oh?" Maki asked, "Ahh, the merchants were hoping for a new market to explore."
"The Gods too are looking for more things to amuse themselves with." Astraea said, "Not knowing of course you're already working on it."
"I hope the people who leave enjoy it here." Cato said, "But please, don't call them 'things'."
Astraea nodded, "Pardon, I was careless with my words. I meant more of the culture and such they will bring."
Cato nodded, "Oh, I know what you meant, but it will be a sore spot for many I'm sure, when they arrive."
We all did a little teacup study, "Ryuu-san? How was your mission to the capital?" Mikoto asked.
"Ah, it was..." Ryuu searched for a word, "Mixed."
"We met Misery." Maki said, "She's kind of 'the big boss' of the working girls of the entertainment in the Slums." My little sister was making sure the possibly sleeping foxes wouldn't hear anything they shouldn't.
"Part of the issue with the slums isn't so much that people are out of work, or sick, or poor." Ryuu said, "It's that they've given up. There are many who are poor, or sick, but much of the work is hard labour since there is little to no education."
"Something I plan to correct when I get back." Cato mumbled.
"Yeah, most of the 'work' is one step above slavery, and if you get hurt..." Maki sighed, "Well, they don't have much past the JSDF clinic for medicine."
I hmm'ed, "But...?"
"Yes, Misery is advertising for us, but those are the kind of people who will come. They will be looking for something better, and bringing nothing but themselves and desperation." Ryuu said.
"We'll do our best for them all the same." I said.
"Good news however, we did get in contact with a merfolk. I have no idea how that will turn out, but you might get that drink from Njord-sama after all."
"Kodori-san." Takemikazuchi started, his hands resting gently on Tatsuo and Tatsuko's heads as they snoozed in his lap, "Are you planning an expedition into the dungeon then?"
I could almost feel everyone lean a little closer to me, "What say you all?" I asked. Sure, I was captain, but it was hard to have an expedition with just myself.
Actually, no. It was easy. But a real pain to come back with the loot on my shoulder.
"I've been working on and off on the list you made after your trip to kill the Balor." Welf said, "But I don't think we're ready for that kind of trip just yet."
Kaede leaned way over, past Haruhime, and poked my shoulder, "Still waiting on that other gauntlet too."
There were a bunch of nods and quiet comments about 'equipment needs looking at' from almost everyone. Then finally a, "And the runt wants actual armour too." Aisha said.
"Just you wait! I'll be tall someday!"
"Only if you eat your vegetables." Shinkage said over her teacup.
"Okay." I said, "A little time to prepare, then..." I looked at our collection of adventurers, "Two teams? One team stops around the eighteenth, the other..." I looked to Bell, "What say you little brother?"
"I think... I would like to go to the White Palace." Bell said after a moment of thought. "The Brothers go there all the time, and I can't help being curious!" He started to fidget a little, excited, "And even if we don't get there... I'd like to at least aim for the safe zone on the twenty eighth."
I looked at the rest of the room, trying to gauge their... not 'willingness' because I knew they were willing! Not a coward in the room! But more like... 'eagerness'.
And I liked what I saw. "Done. Welf and I-"
"Me too!" Maki chimed in.
"And Maki, will bury ourselves in the workshop to get gear together. Mikoto, you'll be in charge of rations. Lilly? Take Amani with you and teach her about the markets." I pointed at Amani before she could complain, "It's part of your education."
"Aww..."
"It almost sounds like you're making ready for war." Cato commented.
"They are." Chloe said quietly, playing with Yumi's tail, "The dungeon will punish any moment of inattention or carelessness. And even if if doesn't the first time, it might the next, or the next..."
"We are all willing to risk our lives in the dungeon." Mikoto said seriously, "But we measure risk against judgment."
"It might be an endless fight." Ouka said, looking to Chigusa, "But, to come home means you win."
We all nodded and did a 'look around at everyone else', "I think we're done." I said.
"I will open a guest room for you, Cato-san." Haruhime said with a smile, "If you would like to explore the manor before bed, you are welcome to."
"I think I might have a bath... Hot baths are almost unheard of back home." He replied, "Oh... Um..." He started to get up, but Chime had found her way into his lap, "Ah here, thank you." He handed her to Weine, "I think what I'm most looking forward to however, is that 'good sleep' I keep hearing adventurers have."
Before bed, I was intercepted by someone sneaking up on me and pulling one of my tails for attention. Since all the children were accounted for, and my tails didn't instantly try and bite my attacker, I turned around with a quiet, "Hmm? Lilly?"
She looked a tiny bit nervous, so before she worked herself up to speak, I got to one knee and got closer. Looking thankful, she said, "I can't go this time."
"I understand." I said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Congratulations?"
"I'm pretty sure, yes." She said, brushing my hand away then stepping forward and hugging me tight, "Heehee. Lilly misses getting big hugs."
"You just need to ask." I replied, wrapping her up in my arms and tails, giving her one of my best hugs, "We'll be sure to bring back something nice for you. Chigusa and Momiji can cover for you, and if we can convince Shinkage to roll out of bed we'll have the Golem. We'll miss your presence, but can cover for your performance."
Lilly wiggled a little so I let her go, "I hope everyone else understands."
"You forget who's house your in." I booped her nose, "You've done so much for us, far more than just carrying things around. You've earned it. If you need anything lemme know."
"Lilly will." She smiled, one of her rare real smiles.
The next morning, after laughing at just how amazed Cato was at what an adventurer's sleep did for him, we escorted him to the Gate to see him off. Having been brought into Hestia's Familia 'young' I didn't really notice the effects of a 'good sleep' until I started getting beat up regularly. But for an old man past seventy, who probably had all kinds of little pains and complications, to suddenly be free of them must have been incredible.
Case in point, he was jogging back to the Gate with us! Maki, Kaede and I had to jog with him or suffer through his taunting!
When we arrived at the Gate, we stopped just outside the checkpoint. The JSDF guard there gave us a nod, but remained on guard, though, he it looked like he could feel the good fortune of Cato from five paces away.
"Well then." Cato grinned, "I can hardly wait to get started."
"Before you go though." Maki said, taking off her adventurer's pack and setting it down, "I got something for you."
She rummaged a moment, and stood up with what looked like a wrapped up brick. This, she handed to Cato. "What's this?" He accepted it, weighing it in his hands before flipping the cloth off it.
"That, is artificial ruby." Maki said, "It's the same stuff I use for my spell sword." Yes, it was a literal brick of ruby. Blood red and flawless.
Cato's eyes were wide at the explanation, "You made this? It didn't come from the ground?" A pause, "Hmm, it does feel... different."
"Arpeggio might know. But most gems are simply quartz with various impurities in them to give it colour. If you know what it is, well, it's only a little more complicated than melting glass." I explained.
"I will certainly try and use this to replace the one I gave up." He nodded, "Thank you again for everything... It means..."
"Hmm, must be raining." Kaede commented, "Go on, they're waiting for you."
"Yeah." He nodded, "If anything goes wrong, I'll contact you."
And he left, getting a snappy salute from the JSDF on guard, before turning and walking out of sight behind the wall on his way to the Gate.
Turning around, I looked down at Kaede, "Why'd you come along?"
Instead of riling to the question, she grinned up at me, "I'm sticking to you until you make me another gauntlet." She poked my shoulder with her left (armoured) hand, "And I wanted to join you at the market on the way back, since I know Maki-san is shopping for a couple things."
I looked to Maki, "Oh?"
"Yup." Maki nodded, "Commissioned some fancy metal dye. I know I know, you can make it, but I spotted the colour and just had to have it."
"See Kodori-san, you're so practical, you never put on any flair!" Kaede complained, "I know I know, function over form! But sometimes, you just need to be loud, even when you're keeping your mouth shut."
Well they weren't wrong, "Well, you want colour, you'll get colour."
When they closed the Gate that afternoon, I was just about to step into the 'hot' side of the workshop. But why would I stop?
Because Ouranos televised it. So, I stepped back from the workshop door (getting a puzzled 'huh?' from Welf) and went outside to look up at the tower.
A moment later, the giant godly TV screens appeared, "People of Orario. As we declared yesterday, today we close the Gate. There are dangers in leaving it open too long, so our new associates from the other world will be much like the traders from over the oceans. Seasonal. So long as our worlds remain connected."
I rubbed my chin, "Well... not a terrible thought, but I hope he's just saying that." I mumbled to myself.
A second set of screens appeared under the first, but the God making them didn't speak up at all, so I had no idea who was at the Gate. However, Fels was there, his inky black robed form standing in front of the Gate.
A moment later, his body started to glow, and a super complex magic circle spun into life under the Gate. Arms wide, hands open, fingers moving in a complex pattern, the circle actually changed and shifted slightly. Not only was I jealous, but he was altering his spell even as it formed around the Gate itself.
Slowly though, his magic circle started to compress, and while I didn't hear anything from the 'TV', I felt something shift in the air itself. Then with a little wobble, the circle stopped shifting and 'snapped' into place, spinning slowly around the Gate much like Lelei's had when I'd seen it back in the Jungle.
It was closed. Yet the Gate remained, as did that yawning empty blackness inside the building itself.
A moment after that, Fels lowered his arms and nodded in satisfaction, raising up a hand to his face. Ouranos nodded to someone off 'camera' then spoke once more. "It is Done. We plan to open the Gate once more near the end of the season, and shortly after that, we may organize another caravan. If any merchants of Orario wish to deal with them again, inform the Guild, and they will contact you in return once they know more."
And with that, all the screens vanished.
"Huh." Welf said from beside me, "Just like that huh?"
"Yeah. But if Fels can close it... If we decide to keep the Gate around, we'll at least have some kind of defence if some less friendly world connects to us."
"Stop worrying so much. Gonna go grey before you're thirty." He slapped my shoulder, "Let's go warm up your new anvil. And what the hell kinda colour did our killer rabbit want?"
Considering that this body wasn't even ten years old, going grey that young was kind of worrying. But I shoved that thought aside and replied to Welf, "I know it as 'flaming neon pink'. And I really want to know how they got that colour."
Aside from keeping an ear out for noise from the Occulus, the next two days passed quickly. Welf, Maki and I spent most of that time in the workshop, either fixing our equipment or making new stuff. Kaede was super happy with her new gauntlet, and now had (and I quote) TWO SUPER SMASHY HANDS!
Other things on the list were yet another remake of 'weapons for harder enemies'. Made for things like crystal turtles or those massive crabs, and even for stuff like Spartoi (that I didn't know if we'd ever get to, but they were around our target depth). We resurfaced Chigusa's shield, made another one for Ouka so we could cover front and back from things like sword bugs (who were super sharp, but brittle) and skull sheep (who fired those stone spikes at alarming velocity).
Asuka and Mikoto both got a new bow, and Delly supplied us with some freshly shed dragon scales from the Old Mother at the Zoo (who was quite happy to be rid of them). These scales were made into arrow heads. In a year or two, once the dragons hatched and grew up a little, we could start making actual armour from them, but for now, super pointy armour killing arrows would have to do.
The Golem, since Shinkage promised to come along and thus be able to 'drive' the over engineered suit of armour (that was worth more than some Familia in raw materials), was given a proper multi pouched back pack. Basically a super tough pack board that was well organized. We would always know what part of the pack to open for what, which could mean the difference between life or death in a tight spot. However, it kind of made the Golem look like a walking Hard Armoured. To be fair, since the Golem didn't have any 'squishy bits' to worry about, it was also very capable of defending someone.
On the third day, just as I was getting into the shop after 'the morning spar', I realized Haruhime had continued to follow me, and didn't turn into the Manor as she usually did. So, I slowed down and let her catch up, my tails seeking hers out and tangling with them while our bodies remained apart.
"Love?" I asked.
"I was... considering something." She started, doing a cute little fidget motion with her hands.
She never had fear from me getting offended or angry at her for anything she said, so this must have been quite extreme for her to show nervousness.
"I like your ideas." I assured her, "What's on your mind?"
She waited until I opened the workshop door and followed me through before replying, "It's something I haven't done since... those days. But with such a large party, and the difference in power, I was thinking this may be..."
Welf, as usual, had slept in, so I closed the door and locked it, "Only friends here." I again assured her, letting my tails slip from hers so I could face her properly.
"The upper and mid floors won't be much of a challenge for you... will they?" She asked, then carried on when I shook my head, "So... Instead of taking a forward role, would you be willing to try a support instead?"
For a moment, I wondered why she would be nervous about suggesting that. But realized that she was referring to her 'old job' as the hidden coddled centre of the formation in her days with Ishtar. A role she saw as demeaning, abusive, and generally unpleasant.
"That is a great idea, but... there's just a little problem." I said with a smile, "I've only learned the first step of your spell. You learned the second step through a tome." I could empower any number of foxes but still only one person at a time.
She returned my smile with one of her own, a tiny hint of mischievousness in it. "Well, if you can't learn it by the end of the week, I suppose you'll just have to support me while I support the others." Her look softened, "But you've never had a problem with that."
"If it works... You think we can get everyone down to the second safe zone?" I tapped my chin, but something occurred to me, "What brought this on?"
"It is clear you have your mind set outside the dungeon." She said, taking one of my hands and holding it with both of hers, "This is fine, you are looking out for the future of Orario, more than the present of Orario." Her fingers played with my wedding ring, "So that our children will have security, no matter what happens."
"Ever since I learned about some of the past disasters, and we had children..."
"It's admirable." She nodded, "But not all of us are like that. We will support you, since you are our captain, but your goals are starting to outpace our means to provide for them. I'm sure you know just how much debt we're in right now, right?"
I winced, "Yes... It's more than Lady Hestia's original debt to Lady Hephaestus. Thankfully, it's all owed to people who like us."
She nodded, but frowned ever so slightly, "Even so, that kind of debt weighs heavily on our minds. Not all of us are as forward thinking as you. But aside from Maki-chan and Shinkage-san, the rest of us are more accustomed to living in the present, than looking to the next generation."
I nodded, hearing Shinkage's voice in my head, telling me to slow down else I might be the only one left working towards my goals.
She continued, booping my nose in her customary way of admonishing me, "So instead of letting you get too far ahead, we all want to get stronger the only way we know how. We all train diligently, but that will only get us so far in Orario."
I felt a little shame, not for being strong, or looking out for the future of my friends and family, but for forgetting my own words. "I don't hold my status above you... I get down to your level and push you forward." I wondered if Rias was keeping up with her sword lessons.
"Good." Haruhime smiled, "Though... this might make more work for you and Welf-san, since we will all need stronger weapons for our increased status..."
I nodded, "You know, you're right... And I think our dear friends of the Takemikazuchi Familia have all been level two for FAR too long. And it's been far too long since we surprised Eina with our progress."
We shared a little laugh, "Don't neglect your other promises either. Poor Hagane-san will be alone up here guarding the manor."
"Well, Aisha will be up here. And..."
"Hmm?"
"Later, but yes, I think that's what I'll do today while Welf laments about having to make heavier weapons for 'normal' use for everyone."
"And love every second of it all the same." She nodded. "I will wake him. But first..." She reached up and took hold of my collar, tugging me down gently to give me a kiss. Just a little one, but still quite motivating.
I watched her unlock the workshop door and leave, humming a happy tune as she left. I looked at the closed door of the workshop for a moment, then slid my eyes over to the leather and wood model of Hagane's new arms.
That evening, as we were all getting settled down for what promised to be an extraordinary Taco night, Lilly worked up the courage to tell everyone 'the news'.
I was already getting raised eyebrows for all the extra work on the Golem, but had kept my mouth shut about it. Of course, my silence was enough to make people even more curious, but still, Lilly had told me in private, so I left it to her for the timing.
This was followed by a near unanimous round of congratulations. The only one who didn't say anything was Finn, who for the first time since I'd known him seemed to have short circuited. A moment later he was out of his chair and giving Lilly 'the biggest hug a Palum could give', though since it was with another Palum... This was also the first time I'd seen him with a truly happy smile, and not just the 'everything is right in a world with me in it' kind of smug look.
Then someone asked 'what a baby Palum looks like', to which Finn replied, "Like a baby human, only smaller." Though, the implied 'duh' was clearly attached.
I caught Haruhime giving Aisha a look while everyone else cheered for Lilly and Finn, but Aisha just shook her head and winked, probably not wanting to spoil Lilly's moment.
Two days later...
"They feel... odd." Hagane said, his new arms and hands making simple slow motions, almost like someone warming up before a workout. "I do not 'itch' but it is the closest word I have for it. And they move... unnaturally."
Due to limitations, and not wanting to increase his mass or profile too much, the arms were mounted to a 'ball joint'. Since he had no squishy fleshy bits to worry about, and could move his body without muscles, his arms could rotate differently than a 'normal' arm could. This would allow him to reach for things in front of him, or allow him to fold up his arms so they were out of the way.
It was the best I could do without a total remodelling, and HIDA-lite and I were already designing a second Golem body just for Hagane. And yes, those arms were going to be used for it... maybe. Who knew? It certainly wasn't getting done in the next two days.
"But?" I asked, offering him one of my hammers.
One of the arms swept around, nearly hitting my leg, before the hand on the end gripped at the hammer's handle. "I will need practise." He said, "My own inexperience aside, I can 'feel' things exactly the same as I can with the rest of my body. The weight of the hammer, the friction of your hand, the resistance when I grip or hold something... Though, it may be far too soon for me to hold eggs."
"I already thought of that!" Welf said proudly, catching one of Hagane's new wrists and plunking a 'supporter's glove' on his new hand. The tough yet nimble glove was the dungeon standard for handling potentially harmful things when you cut up monsters for loot or magic stone.
"Hurrm... It's not terrible, but before I do that, I should learn to move them properly... Like... so?" He used his bare hand to take the glove off his other hand.
"You're learning quick." Welf nodded, "Since you're staying up here, you'll have time to practice. Maybe play catch with the children."
"A sound idea." Hagane nodded, "What of the... extra feature you mentioned?"
"You'll need to undo the locking pins on either wrist." I said, pointing to two hidden levers on his wrists. They looked like just another bit of his arm, but I didn't want anyone catching on to what amounted to a secret weapon. "Simply move them like so..." I moved the sliding lever with a firm click.
Then Welf and I took a good step back. "Like... wait..."
"You have to turn your palm up." Welf said, "Since we figured you'd only use them if you had your hand flat to something."
"Wise. So..." And with a sinister sounding 'SHINK' about thirty centimetres of hardened adamant spike slammed out of his palm. "Ah, a little fast."
"You can control the speed much like anything else about your body." I said, "I didn't want to make them spring loaded, since you'd never get them to retract."
The spike slid back into his palm, and his hand did a couple of 'grabby hand' motions while his other hand put the safety back on. "I will practise. Thank you, both of you. I was really starting to miss having opposing thumbs of my own."
One thing I actually made an attempt at this time around, was listening to 'rumours'. When ever a major Familia, or even a decent one, was going to go into the dungeon, the city noticed. I wasn't talking about little parties, or high level solo adventurers going in to earn some pocket change or blow off steam. No, I was talking about actual expeditions.
Even with my ability to craft, and the near total self efficiency of the Manor, we still needed stuff. And any merchant worth his scales knew what expeditions needed. And that... started rumours.
People were wondering just what we were up to. Sure, I was doing a lot of moving and shaking, but that needed 'normal' stuff. Wood, stone, food, paperwork... You know, things every citizen dealt with.
But no. People were asking in whispers, 'what was the Alliance planning?', and 'are they planning for their seasonal dive?', or even 'is there another disaster on the way?'.
Of course, no one asked directly, and aside from Finn, no one outside the Familia knew just how much of the Manor would be going along. Though, he did say he'd help keep an eye on the place, since aside from the Amazon Mothers, the only people we'd be leaving behind were Hagane, Aisha and Lilly.
One of the rumours that both amused and worried me, was 'is the Demon Fox going to do something again'.
The people were expecting me to do something 'unique' in the dungeon. They didn't see my efforts outside the city as 'unique' or even 'interesting', no, they wanted another Balor Skull or something brought back up.
Well, screw them. I was certainly going to be doing something. But my Familia and fellow Alliance members would be doing so much more.
I couldn't do it. It felt close, but every time I thought I had it, my mind would be filled with razor blades and broken glass, or the effect would simply switch to the new person.
My efforts to learn the second stage of Haruhime's spell, had failed.
But all was not lost. Her second stage spell, that allowed her stat boosting magic to effect more than one person at a time, was limited by her magic power. Ever since we'd traded tails, we could share magic power as much as we wanted. The only limit was that we be within sight of each other. With me backing her, her previous limit of only five people, would be increased to nine. Aside from Bell, Shinkage and Ryuu, that was everyone else.
I thought it was quite fitting. They had all been supporting me so far, as best they could, with everything I'd been doing. My wild plans, mild modernization, the train and now the plan to take in what might be ten thousand dark elves and whatever other people who could show up to Alnus in a month.
So now it was my turn to help them.
"Food? Sharpening stones? Extra weapons? Arrows?" I asked.
"All secure. Though, my poor Golem can no longer show off its red colour." Shinkage lamented.
"We could always get Kodori-san to dye it pink." Kaede offered with a smirk.
"Don't you dare." Maki laughed, "You'd run out of dye and that was not cheap stuff."
"Armour? Main weapons?" I continued, giving both our crazy rabbit and city fox a hair ruffle.
Everyone drew steel (or wood), and re-inspected their weapon once again. Welf had given up on getting his sword back, and had the 'MK 2' spell cleaver strapped to his back. Momiji and Haruhime had matching tanto. Asuka was wearing new spiked gauntlets (just because I couldn't spike my armour, didn't mean I couldn't make spiked armour) and had her new bow (not quite as scary as Aisha's, but Aisha was much stronger). Mikoto had gotten a new katana, this one with a slightly thicker blade to support the extra force needed to crack tougher monsters and a copy of Asuka's bow. Ouka and Chigusa were now matching (aside from the huge size difference) with heavy shield and spear. Delly still only used her wand, but it was freshly polished and extra shiny. Amani was sporting a new 'armoured Amazon' set of armour (greeves, bracers, leather vest, salamander wool accessories) and carrying her new full metal padao (to match her somewhat apathetic rival's). Ryuu just had her branch from Yggdrasil (with a faint coat of wax). Maki had her spell sword. Shinkage had her own Padao.
And finally... Kaede had her new katana, with an incredibly bright neon pink hamon line.
Aside from that, everyone had their own supply of potions, food and water rations, and a couple of 'personal protection items', just in case something got past (or they didn't have) abnormal resistance.
We were ready.
But first, as usual, as always, we made sure to wave/bow/hug to our Gods and those staying behind.
"Be safe everyone." Hestia said, "We'll keep the manor warm for you."
"Even if you need to do this for money, remember you have people up here who need you more." Astraea said after giving her new collection of fuzzy ears (Delly, Kaede and Momiji) some scroofles. But not Ryuu. She was still a square.
"Walk with honour, strike like thunder, return victorious." Takemikazuchi said with a bow and passable haiku.
Somewhere in the back, one of the Amazon mothers called out, "Kick them in the shin for me! They missed my birthday!"
"We'll need them to carry things back up." I grinned, "You have the Tarots. Don't hesitate to call, and if its a big problem, invite people over for tea."
On the way to the tower, our parade was catching all the looks. Rumours that had been flying about for most of the week were being confirmed or discarded. Adventurers were wondering about the new equipment. People we knew were waving to wish us luck, or occasionally hoping we'd die in a fire (looking at you Zanis... still scrubbing beer vats?)
But just before the entrance to the tower, there was of course one last obstacle.
"Ahem." Eina stood before us, a clipboard and pencil in her hand. "Will this be for your seasonal trip?"
I looked back at everyone, and got a bunch of smiles in return, "At least that." I said, accepting the clipboard and scribbling down a few things. "The Manor knows how to contact us in case of emergency. The other world knows how to contact us in case of emergency. And you know how to deal with almost all the emergencies without us."
She accepted the clipboard and pencil back from me, then tapped me on the head with the clipboard, "Be safe. Even like this, I still worry." She looked over the group, and frowned with a little head tilt, "Wait..."
"Visit for tea." I said before she could ask where Aisha and Lilly were. "Is everything in order, honoured teacher?"
She looked at the clipboard, nodded at it, then nodded to us, "Good luck."
Instead of taking paper from the job board, like we usually would before a trip down. We just looked at it. Our supporters (the Golem, Momiji and Chigusa) could only carry so much, and any requests we did fill would be on the way back up. To be fair, this time I was also a supporter, and could carry everyone on my back, plus equipment and loot. But then nothing would get done and we'd all look silly.
(An hour later, floor 10)
"Ever think of inventing a bag of holding or something?" Maki asked as we cleaned up after a little skirmish. "Could you imagine the look on people's faces if you could dump out a house full of magic stone from a little bag?"
"I thought about that." I nodded, "But Loaner said it would be impossible. Something about there only being two 'realms'."
"Ohhhh if that's the case, it would explain why there are no Familiars, and people can't pull weapons out of the air." Delly said, handing me a magic stone, "With only the 'material' and the 'divine' realms and nothing else, there's no space for pocket dimensions."
"Huh... So the Gods of this world are running on an old OS." Maki mused, "Probably for the best."
"It might explain why we've had two cases of 'outsider' interference though. Not including you." Delly said. With such simple 'rules' there's no buffer for that kind of thing. Though... being so simple means there's also less to find and try and invade."
"So... no Cthulhu invasions?" I asked.
"Nope!"
Maki and I sighed in relief.
(Two hours later, floor 16)
"Still attracting Minotaurs huh?" Welf laughed, "Though to be fair, Bell is here too this time."
We'd just plowed through a group of monsters, a big one too! Though it would have had to be, since monsters more or less 'understood' power levels, and would avoid the strong. Except every single Minotaur avoided everyone else, weaker members included, to run after Bell and I.
Didn't help them at all, but it was still a bit weird.
(Hour later, floor 18)
"Hey Aisha, buried under foxes I see." I said into an Occulus while everyone else was making lunch.
Aisha, who had the faces of all Haruhime's and my children peeking around her shoulders, arms and even one on her head, laughed and said, "I challenged them to a battle!"
Haruhime and I laughed, "Well, be sure to play nice. And no biting." Haruhime said.
"Awwww." Pouted seven children.
"Or setting her on fire." I added.
"Of course not!" Kei said, trying to hug the stuffing out of Aisha's shoulder, "We love our big aunt Aisha!"
"No biting? Come on Hime, let them have some advantage." Aisha laughed, randomly scroofling the first pair of ears her free hand could find.
"Very well. But remember you asked for it." Haruhime sighed, "Is everything else okay?"
"Yup. No one's bothered us, the Occulus for the other world is silent, and Eina came over for lunch. She offered congratulations of course."
"Miss Eina-san was very surprised!" Toshi said.
"She stopped petting my ears when she heard the news." Yumi pouted.
"That's to be expected." I said, "But good. Be sure to listen to Aunt Aisha, and be quiet during story time."
"Mr Gros-san is reading today!" Tatuso said happily.
"Anyhow." Aisha wrangled all the children somehow with just one arm, "I have ears to nibble. See you when you get back."
We all waved goodbye, then put the Occulus away. "This begs the question. How long are we spending on this trip, Ko-san?"
"As long as it takes, or we are forced to retreat." I said with a grin.
(An hour after lunch, Floor 23.)
Watching from the middle and only stepping in when absolutely needed...
Well, I was kind of bored.
It wasn't that I had nothing to do. But aside from packing away magic stone or handing out the occasional item from the Golem, I had nothing to do. Or rather, nothing to worry about.
Even our rookies, who in all honesty should not have been down this low just yet, were keeping pace and working flawlessly with the higher powered members of the party. Ouka and Chigusa kept the party safe from ranged attacks and sword bugs. Welf worked with Ryuu on the things that were 'thicker skinned'. And everyone else used what ever tactics were needed to bring down monsters in as efficiently as possible.
(Maybe not quite an hour later, Floor 24)
All of us huddled just outside one of the larger caverns on the twenty forth floor. The 'section' of the dungeon itself was commonly called the 'tree labyrinth'. That massive tree on the eighteenth was one of the only things I could think of that actually acted 'normal' in this place. The roots of that tree, even though they broke and regrew like the stone of the dungeon walls, twisted and tangled up with itself much like any root system under a tree. Except, it made this part of the dungeon the most prone to 'change'. Frequently, the roots would shift about and open up, or cut off, access to the solid stone rooms. And in this case, our path towards the next floor had led us to this room, likely the largest room on the twenty forth floor.
And it looked like that room hadn't been 'open' for a little while now, because it was very heavily occupied.
"I knew that this part of the dungeon being empty was a sign of trouble..." Welf grumbled, "This is going to suck."
NOTES
Find out why, in the next episode of FoxGate, and the JSDF take a back seat for the moment.
Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!
aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!
And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.