Chapter 20: The Two's Wish

"…If it wasn't one thing, it's another," Finn sighed as he peeked inside a tent where several members of his Familia were resting.

After using the last of their supplies to heal their wounds, Finn had had the Party retreat back to the Fiftieth Floor while carrying the unconscious Archer and Ais.

When they woke up, Finn, Riveria and Gareth questioned them on what occurred on the Fifty-Ninth Floor but Ais had no idea what had happened or didn't understand enough to put them into words as was often the case.

Archer simply said that he didn't know what prompted him to act on his own either aside from the fact that he knew that the Spirit had to die, something Ais had nodded in agreement to. Everything else though…

"I have no obligation to explain."

That was all they got when they asked about his spells.

Which was fair. He was not part of their Familia and it was enough to know that whatever he had done worked and saved them. It's not as though they would answer his questions to why Ais's spell could do things from shooting out wind, to creating a wind barrier and even give her limited flight all with the same chant.

Lefiya seemed to have some ideas of how Archer's shield worked but she wasn't confident enough in her theories to share them.

Still, to think that even after fighting for their lives that on their way back to the surface they would encounter a Monster Party of Poison Vermis, one of the most toxic monsters known in the Dungeon. Their poison was enough to incapacitate anyone without special gear or the Development Ability Abnormal Resistance at rank G.

Naturally this meant over half of the Expedition, Hephaistos Smiths included, had been knocked out, forcing them to rest on the Eighteenth Floor to treat them when Finn had wanted to get back to Loki to report as soon as possible.

"Well, we sent Bete out already so all we can do is wait for him to come back with the antidotes," Gareth said with a sigh. "Still…I'm amazed no one died."

"Let's not question that any more than we have to," Riveria said pointedly. "We were lucky that the Spirit was one that wanted to play with its food."

Indeed, if it had decided to use the flame spell again instead of the meteor one, Finn doubted Archer's shield would have been able to block it.

"That just goes back to the original question," Finn muttered as the three of them entered the Command Tent. "Who…or what…exactly is Archer?"

The two males turned toward the High Elf for her expert opinion, causing the woman to sigh.

"…At the barest hypothesis, I would say he is an existence similar to Ais," Riveria began. "The two reacted in a similar fashion and the Spirit seemed to have singled them both out. Their magics are also similar in how flexible they are as well. If I had to guess further without any evidence, I would say he, or at the very least his bloodline, has Spirit Blood within it somehow. Perhaps a Spirit contacted his ancestor at some point in the past and the ancestor received some of its blood."

"Willingly?" Gareth asked.

"You saw what happened below," Riveria said with a slight frown. "High Level Spirits, not Fairies, existed long before the Gods descended onto our world. If his ancestors were one that would try to harm a Spirit, they would have had to try and fight without the Falna."

Gareth nodded as he rubbed his head.

"Sure would answer a lot of questions I suppose," the old Dwarf admitted. "Better a Spirit than a Creature I suppose."

"So long as he remains a friend, I don't care what he is," Finn said with a smile.

"So you trust him now?" Gareth asked.

"I'm not sure I can say I trust him 100% as he is still of a different Familia," Finn admitted. "But I can trust he is what he seems to be. A young man that wants to help us simply because he wants to. Although that is scary in a different way."

"Hard to trust someone who wants nothing in return," Gareth admitted with a sigh. "At least Archer is still accepting payment…as much as I would love for him to not."

The other two shared similar bitter smiles.

They had to hand over most of the Drop Items to the Hephaistos Familia when they were done and what was leftover would go to Archer and the Hestia Familia. Although they weren't quite in the red thanks to Archer's supply of weapons, it was quite close.

Still, they won't ask to renegotiate the deal with Archer. They had an ideal source for Magic Swords now after all, and ones that could be made instantly and on short notice. They'll probably have to pay for any new ones at above regular cost at the insistence of Hephaistos Familia or else it would absolutely wreck the value of Magic Swords from other Blacksmith Familias.

The last thing Finn needed was to be blacklisted after all.

"Guess the next expedition will have to be to make money," Finn said with a smile.

"No arguments here," Gareth agreed as Riveria nodded as well. "Think we can get some more Magic Swords from Archer before he leaves?"

"That would probably be up to him," Riveria said with a smile. "So the answer will be 'Yes.'"

As they shook their heads the flap to the tent opened up.

"Oi, I'm back," Bete said with his usual sour look.

"…Already?" Riveria asked.

"Met some people," the Werewolf replied. "Gave me a case of Dian Cecht's antidotes without me even saying anything."

"Who?" Finn asked.

"That minotaur brat and what's probably the rest of Archer's Familia. The red man's already shoved off to meet them. Just came back to drop them off before I go back to being your mailman."

And with that, Bete left without another word.

"The minotaur kid…as in Bell Cranel?" Gareth asked.

"I believe that was his name," Riveria nodded. "Barely two weeks and he's already made his way down here. He has to have at least hit Level 2 by now then…building off of Level 1 with his Status at all S rank."

"Hestia Familia is full of weirdos," Gareth said with a laugh. "You two met the Captain of such a Familia, right? What's he like?"

The High Elf and Pallum exchanged glances.

"If I had to say…" Riveria began. "He was most definitely a king of some place or some other high noble."

"Guess you would know," Gareth said as Riveria nodded. He then turned to Finn. "What about you?"

"Honestly? He bothers me more than Archer does," Finn admitted. "There's something about his eyes…it feels like they can see right through you."

Both Riveria and Gareth shared a glance.

"Something tells me…" Finn muttered as he bit at his thumb. "That fighting that Spirit again would be easier than fighting him head on."

X-x-X-x-X

"It's just over here," Archer said as he led Bell and the others toward the Loki Familia Camp. "I'll ask Finn if you guys can camp out here with us."

"Why did you stop here in the first place?" Bell asked as he walked alongside Archer. "Couldn't you have just made it all the way back to the surface if you were already here? Were people injured?"

"Poisoned," Archer corrected. "So they can't move right now. Finn sent Bete up for antidotes but…" Archer turned to look at Caster who simply smirked at him. "Looks like that was taken care of."

Bell knew that there was no way Caster was doing this out of the goodness of his heart, but he still didn't know what Caster was aiming to get from it.

Was it simply for more connections with Loki Familia?

"Did you bring any food with you at least?" Archer asked. "Supplies are rather low and we've been scavenging from the Dungeon."

"Food…from the Dungeon?" Welf asked with his eyes wide open. "What on earth grows down here that you can eat?"

"Honey cloud for one," Archer explained as he fished one out of his pocket. It was a yellow cotton-like fruit that was giving off a rather sweet smelling scent that Bell could smell from where he was standing. Archer split it in half with his hands and a pink juice started seeping out, causing the smell to also come out stronger. He then tossed one half to Welf before handing the other to Bell. "This is what most of us have been eating for the last day. Well, this and some other fruits but honey cloud is the most common…"

The boys bit into the fruit and their faces scrunched up immediately.

"So sweet!" Bell said as he shook his head. He was never good with sweets to begin with but the fruit was so sickeningly sweet that it made him want to vomit.

"Gah! It's like drinking pure liquid sugar," Welf groaned as he stuck his tongue out.

The smith then looked down to see Assassin tugging on his sleeve with begging eyes. Looking like he didn't want to finish it either way, he handed the fruit to the girl to which she took a bite and let out a satisfied squeal.

"Do you want mine, Lily?" Bell asked.

"Is it okay?" Lily asked back.

"Yeah…I don't really like it."

"Then Lily will accept!" Lily said happily as she took it and plopped it in her mouth. "Mmm…Lily agrees that it is a bit too sweet for a proper meal. As a dessert though…"

"Can we sell these things up on the surface?" Welf asked.

"They don't keep more than a few days apparently," Archer replied. "So you won't be able to store too many of them."

Welf just shrugged as if to say he wasn't that invested anyway.

"We're here."

They entered a gap in the trees and came across a massive clearing filled with tents. In the center of the campground flew a large flag depicting the Loki Familia Emblem.

"Show us to Deimne," Caster said. "I have some things to discuss with him."

"Yep, feels like I'm home already," Archer muttered as he directed them through the camp.

Bell saw some Loki Adventurers call out and wave to Archer as they passed while others simply stared in confusion at Bell and the others but didn't say anything, probably because Archer was with them.

They then came to the largest tent.

"Finn, you in?" Archer called out.

"Come on in," the Pallum called back out as Archer stepped aside to let Caster go in first with Bell following right behind him.

Inside were the executives of Loki Familia, sitting on small cushioned stools, looking as though they had been in a meeting. On the side of the tent directly behind Finn was a banner bearing Loki Familia's emblem.

"Welcome to the Eighteenth Floor, Hestia Familia," Finn said with a smile. "First off, allow me to express my thanks for the antidotes. We'll reimburse you as soon as possible."

"You may do so in two ways," Caster said, holding up two fingers. "We shall use some space in the camp to rest here rather than in Rivira and I will have some information."

"It'll have to depend on what kind of information you are after but you're free to set up near Archer's tent if you want," Finn said and Caster accepted that with a nod.

"Then let us host a banquet for the return of the Giant Killers," Caster said as he snapped his fingers, causing a loud crash to appear outside, followed by several people shouting in surprise. "Archer, use those to prepare a proper feast."

"Me?" Archer asked with a raised brow.

"Though it pains me to admit so, your meals are just barely suitable for my tongue. You do not expect me to eat nothing but Honey Cloud, do you?"

Archer let out a small sigh as he shook his head and headed out with most of the others following after him.

"What's wrong?" Caster asked as he turned toward Bell. "Did you want to listen in as well?"

"No, I just wanted to say something," Bell said as he turned to the Loki Executives and bowed his head. "Thank you for allowing Archer to go on an Adventure."

Finn, Riveria and Gareth looked at Bell in surprise as Finn let out a good natured chuckle.

"He showed us a good time too," Finn said with a smile. "I'm sure you can follow him some day too."

"Yes! Thank you very much!" Bell said with a nod before leaving as well.

"That boy never ceases to give me a migraine," Caster sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He then made to sit down, letting a golden stool appear underneath him. "Now then…although I could simply wait and hear it from the mongrel himself, I would hear it from the three of you first."

"Oh? Hear what?" Finn asked.

"What exactly did you find down there on the Fifty-Ninth Floor?" Caster asked, his blood red eyes sweeping across the Loki Executives.

"It'll be a long story," Finn said, his smile disappearing as a serious expression replaced it.

"I am not as busy as I usually am right now. I have time."

X-x-X-x-X

As Bell stepped outside, he saw a man on the ground, staring at the mass of packages that appeared on the side of the command tent.

"You all right, Raul?" Archer asked as he helped him to his feet.

"Archer!" the man named Raul began. "These things just popped out of nowhere? Does the Dungeon spawn packages now too?"

"Don't be daft, Raul," a black haired Cat Person said with a sigh.

"They were brought along by my Familia Captain," Archer explained. "Mostly food, I think."

"Food? Really?" Raul asked. "You mean we don't have to spend each meal eating Honey Cloud fruits anymore?"

"That'd be great," the Cat Person said. "Can't really do much else with them and hard bread after all."

"Can you two get them to the cooking area, Aki?" Archer asked. "I'm going to help my Familia settle in."

"Oh they're staying here then?" Aki asked as Bell unconsciously nodded his head to answer her. "Nice to meet you. Let's get along all right? Raul, help me here."

As the two of them started moving the food packages, and Bell was sure he saw a whole prepared cow amongst them, Archer pointed them toward his tent at the edge of the grounds.

"Master Archer's been busy!" Lily said as she eyed the massive Magic Stones that Archer had been keeping in a bag.

"They are as big as Bell's arm…" Saber muttered, speaking for the first time since they entered the Eighteenth Floor. "I was not aware they can get that big…"

"Look at these things!" Welf said as he lifted up what looked like a horn of a rhino and several dragon scales. "Damn, Deep Floor Drop Items are amazing."

"…Come to think of it, who are you?" Archer asked as he looked at Welf while Assassin was hanging off the bowman's back, having found one that was big enough to climb on and without anything hanging on it. "A new member?"

Bell supposed that Archer could tell that Assassin and Saber were also Servants so he did not question their appearance.

"Oh, sorry," Welf said as he placed Archer's pack back down and stuck out his hand. "The name's Welf Crozzo. I'm Bell's personal Blacksmith. And I'm not actually part of your Familia. I'm part of Hephaistos Familia."

"Is that so?" Archer asked with a nod and shook the young man's hand. "Pleasure to meet you. If you can work with these materials then they're yours."

"Haha…nice of you to say but there's no way I can make anything even close to half decent with those things the way I am now."

"Is that so? Then I'll save them for a rainy day."

As Lily and Welf continued to rummage through Archer's stuff, Bell decided to properly introduce his Servants to each other.

"Archer, this is Saber," Bell said, gesturing to the glasses wearing Servant.

"Sigurd," Saber introduced himself as he extended his hand.

Archer took it and paused for a moment before responding with, "Emiya."

The name didn't seem to register to Saber but the man closed his eyes in what Bell assumed was a smile underneath his mask and nodded.

"And the one on your back is Assassin," Bell said.

"Jack the Ripper!" Assassin said. "Nice to meet you, Archer."

Archer paused for a second, his gray eyes boring into Assassin's smiling face before turning to Saber who simply nodded.

"…The grail is always full of surprises," Archer said with a sigh. "So what brings you guys down here?"

"Caster wants to kill the Floor Boss," Bell said as Archer stared at him.

"…Of course he does," Archer sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Once he gets off his ass, he doesn't do things by halves, does he?"

"I cannot say," Saber said honestly. "It is the first time I have seen him take direct action. He has always been content to direct from his throne until now."

"What had changed?" Archer asked.

"Mommy saved other Adventurers in the Dungeon," Assassin spoke up as Archer looked from Assassin toward Saber and Bell.

"We encountered the Takemikazuchi Familia yesterday," Bell explained. "They got caught in a Monster Party and we…well…I wanted to jump in to save them and kinda made everyone else follow me."

"Bell. You need to stop doing things I would do."

Even though Archer was probably being serious when he said that, all Bell could do was smile and laugh. Though he was too embarrassed to admit that that was all he ever wanted to do since he met Archer.

"Archer!"

A voice called out from outside the camp, causing Bell, Archer, Saber and Assassin to turn around.

There, coming out of the forest, were several girls. Two Amazons, one Elf and-

Bell felt his breath hitch in his throat.

A blonde human girl was taking up the rear of the group, a thin rapier by her side. She stood a few centimeters shorter than Bell and he felt that she was radiating feminine beauty. Her blonde hair was shining under the light of the crystals on the ceiling to the point that he almost thought that her hair was actually made of gold.

Even a relative newcomer to Orario like Bell knew who this person was.

Ais Wallenstein, the strongest human in the world.

Bell thought his heart was going to explode out of his chest as he quickly turned his body around to force himself to look…anywhere other than at her.

"Welcome back," Archer called out. "How was the harvest?"

"Pretty good, though still mostly honey clouds," the Amazon with the shorter haircut replied. "Lefiya did find a Crystal Drop though."

"Miss Ais was the one who found it though," the elf said.

"I have no idea what that is, but it sounds rare."

"It goes for quite a lot on the surface," the other Amazon explained. "Though nobles tend to buy them up whenever they appear. They're basically just candy…hmm? Who are these people?"

"Ah…they're part of my Familia. This is Bell Cranel, my Vice Captain…why are you looking away, Bell?"

"N-no reason!" Bell stammered, still facing away from them.

"Ah! It's the Little Argonaut!"

"Huh?"

Hearing the name of his Skill caused Bell's heart to skip a beat as the short haired Amazon appeared in his sight, causing him to yelp and take a step back.

"Oh, the one who defeated the minotaur!" the longer haired Amazon added as she leaned in to get a better look at Bell's face. "Hey, how did you get all your parameters to S rank?"

"Uhh…I…I…huh!?"

Had there been that many people watching!? And his Status had been exposed!? When!? How!?

"Was it really this person?" the elf, Lefiya, asked as she looked from Archer to Ais.

"Yes," Ais nodded simply as Archer sighed.

"Unfortunately…" Archer muttered.

"He defeated three more on his own during our trip down here," Saber "helpfully" provided.

"Saber!" Bell shouted indignantly.

"Heh? Really?"

"Amazing! You have to be at least Level 2 then right, Little Argonaut?"

"Tiona, Tione, you're scaring the poor boy," Archer said as he placed his hand on the shoulder of the short haired Amazon. "And what to you mean by 'Little Argonaut,' Tiona?"

"I mean the legend of the Argonaut," Tiona said. "It fits him don't you think?"

More than she probably realized…

A ball of white hair suddenly appeared in front of Bell's face as Assassin was standing in front of him with her arms spread out as if to keep the Amazons from coming closer.

"Leave Mommy alone!" Assassin bravely said.

However, it seemed to have the opposite effect.

""Aww, how cute!""

The two of them immediately shifted their sights onto Assassin instead as they pulled her close and started cuddling her. The Servant tried to break free but was unable to.

"Mommy!" She cried out, hand reaching toward Bell.

"Umm…please stop," Bell said quickly. "I think you're scaring her."

Behind him, Lefiya was looking from Archer, to Bell, to Saber and then to Jack.

"…Umm Mister Archer?" She began. "Does your Goddess have a 'type?'"

"I have no idea how to answer that…" Archer responded with a sigh as Bell managed to rescue Assassin from the Amazons' grip.

The two of them stumbled back a bit and he felt someone's soft hands catch his shoulders.

Bell clamped down on the squeal slipping out of his mouth and quickly stepped away from Ais moving Assassin between him and her.

Beside him, he saw Archer bring his palm to his face while Saber was chuckling to himself.

They knew.

Oh no. They knew.

Bell's quickly reddening face did him no favors either.

What did one do when one was cornered like this?

Well, Bell decided to rely back on his base instincts.

And ran.

X-x-X-x-X

"Kukuku…" Saber chuckled as Bell kicked up dust as he disappeared further into the camp. "He is at that age after all."

"Really now…" Archer sighed as he shook his head.

Assassin had made to run after Bell, but she got caught by the sheer brute strength of the Amazons again.

"Nooooooooo…" she let out a weak scream as she was being coddled again.

"Am I…being hated?" Ais asked.

"…No I don't think you are," Lefiya replied with a frown. "That human was just being rude."

"Well, I won't deny that," Archer admitted before turning toward the twins and Assassin. "Though can you girls go easy on her?"

"Ehh? But she's so cute," Tiona said before releasing Assassin who quickly ran in the same direction as Bell.

Tione then looked at Saber who returned her inquisitive gaze with a passive one.

"Hey, are you Level 1?" Tione asked.

"I have not Leveled Up since joining the Familia," Saber replied neutrally.

The Amazon raised an eyebrow as her eyes went from Saber's glowing red sword to the high quality daggers hooked on his waist.

"I should be more surprised," Tione sighed. "Why am I not more surprised? This is all your fault."

She leveled a gaze at Archer who simply folded his arms in defiance, although he had a very self-satisfied grin on his face.

"Didn't you have a Pallum in your Familia too though?" Tiona asked as she looked around. "Did she not come with you?"

"No, she's in the tent going through my Drop Items," Archer said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "Looks like they added a Hephaistos Familia Smith to the Party to replace me in the meantime too."

"Ahh…that makes sense if you were the one taking care of their weapons before," Lefiya nodded.

"Umm…that little girl?" Ais asked.

"Jack," Saber replied as Ais nodded in thanks.

"Is she okay down here?"

"She can defeat three Orcs on her own with little trouble and the Al-Miraj cannot keep up with her. Do not worry."

"Again, I should be surprised, but I am not," Tione said again as she punched Archer's arm.

"I don't think the Dungeon cares what constitutes for 'normality' after the last few days," Archer shot back as he rubbed his arm.

"Yeah but I can take it out on you much more easily than I can take it out on the Dungeon."

"Tione, no bullying Archer," Tiona said with a pout.

"All right, all right~"

"In any case, I should get to work," Archer said as he rolled his shoulders.

"Making new weapons for your Familia?" Tiona asked.

"No, my Captain brought extra supplies to share with the Expedition and he told me to use them for a feast."

"All right!" Tiona shouted as she threw her arms in the air. "Honey Cloud is good and all but if I have to eat it all the time, I'll just get sick of them!"

"It won't be much though. I have to think of a menu that those recovering can keep down as well."

"At least it won't just be sweet juice," Tione said with a wry smile. "Some of the guys were saying that eating nothing but that was the worst part of getting poisoned."

"Even though it's so good…" Lefiya sighed as Ais nodded in agreement.

"Archer," Saber whispered as he leaned in toward his fellow Knight Class. "What should we do about Master?"

"Leave him be," Archer replied. "Going after him now while he is in the middle of puberty will only make it worse."

Saber nodded in agreement to Archer's sage advice.

Their Master has finally grown up.

X-x-X-x-X

Caster let out a deep breath through his nose as he took in all the information that the Loki Executives could give him about the Spirit down on the Fifty-Ninth Floor.

"…It sounds as though that wasn't even the main body…" Caster said as he looked at Finn who had a similar frown on his face.

The Loki Familia Captain nodded his head before speaking.

"That is my guess as well," Finn replied. "During the battle, it shot up a mass of vines from the floor to create a wall, far more in volume than its body would suggest. I would say that it was merely another 'tentacle' just like the Virgas and Violas."

"Agreed," Caster said with a frown. "It's main body is most likely on the Sixtieth Floor or even further below."

"Give me a break…" Gareth said with a sigh. "What's going on with this city?"

No one could provide the dwarf with an answer as Caster tapped a finger on the table the four of them were sitting around. A golden portal opened up near his feet before he bent down and withdrew a bottle.

The news that such a parasite could be nesting deep within the roots of his garden was giving him a migraine. And what's more it sounded as though someone was both cultivating and spreading them out.

Such a situation called for a quick break.

"Do you drink, Riveria Ljos Alf?" Caster asked in an uncharacteristic display of politeness as he raised the golden bottle.

"I do not," Riveria replied as she rubbed her forehead. "But I feel as though I would not decline the offer right now."

Caster let out an amused huff as he also pulled out four golden cups and began filling them with his wine.

"That is the wine you gave to Loki?" Riveria asked as she accepted the cup. "…How fragrant."

"Whew! No wonder Loki was hogging it all to herself," Gareth said as he downed the cup in a single go.

"Almost as if it was crafted by the gods themselves…" Finn muttered as he looked over toward Caster.

"There should be no way for any mortal to get their hands on such things," Caster said simply as he pushed the bottle over to Gareth and allowed him to refill his drink. "Aside from the Soma Wine in any case, and this is not it. Although I have heard that God Dionysus has gotten his hands on some peculiar wine himself."

The conversation went nowhere but it was sufficient to relax the nerves and calm everyone down.

"Still…" Finn spoke up, drawing the conversation back to the topic. "If we take in what we learned on the Twenty-Fourth Floor, whoever is creating these…let's call them Demi Spirits…whoever is creating them carries around a parasite in the shape of a Jewel with a monstrous fetus inside of it which then infects a Violas or by taking over a Pantry…you know what those are, correct?"

"I do," Caster nodded. "A location within the Dungeon where Monsters gather to feed."

"Yes. Using one of these two methods, the parasite gains a body and then turns into…or should I say, evolves into a Demi Spirit by eating the yellow Magic Stones provided by the Virgas and Violas."

"And these Jewels can easily be carried in one's palm," Riveria said as she looked down at her own hand. "This being who calls themselves 'Enyo' is a dangerous person indeed."

"If those Jewels get to the surface then they'd be able to spawn those Spirits or Violas whenever and wherever they wish…" Gareth shook his head as he downed another cup. "Orario would be finished."

"Enyo… 'Destroyer of the City,'" Caster muttered. "What a boring name. There is always that one petulant child who wishes to destroy the works of the other children in the sandbox."

"…Do you think that this Enyo is another God?" Riveria asked with a frown.

"The Gods are only ever interested in their own amusement," Caster pointed out the most obvious fact in the world. "That is why they have decided to live in this world bound by countless rules and why many would scavenge a living in the dirt. Although most want to raise a mortal to play the starring role of a Hero in their tales, there is always a counter legend of a champion backed by an 'Evil God' to rival them."

"Evilus," Finn said, his frown deepening. "Now there's an old name…"

"By talking about this, does this mean you wish to join the investigation?" Riveria asked.

"No, Hestia Familia will not get involved on purpose," Caster answered with a shake of his head and a rather awful smirk. "Our Familia consists of a single Level 2 and a handful of Level 1s. How can we possibly defend ourselves against an enemy that the mighty Loki Familia struggles with?"

"But of course," Finn nodded with a wry smile.

"Nevertheless, I shall pass along any information I would deem useful for your own investigations."

"Would you like us to do the same?"

"It will not be necessary. I only sought out the information of this 'Demi-Spirit' for a clue of what I might be looking for. And I believe I have it."

The other three narrowed their eyes at that.

"Changing the topic for a moment," Caster continued, paying them no heed as he put on an airy tone like that of a fool. "I have heard that the port city Melen to the south west of Orario is an excellent vacation spot to go on celebrations."

"Melen?" Gareth repeated, deciding to play along. "Aye that it is. Good fishing spots and a nice beach for young ones to fool around on."

"I have heard that some Aquatic Monsters appear on occasion," Caster continued. "Is there anything that one should keep an eye out for lest the young ones fall prey to their ignorance?"

"No need to worry about them," Gareth said. "Njord Familia clears them out on occasion. You'll only run into the bigger nasties if you venture to the bottom of the lake-"

Gareth's voice trailed off as his eyes widened at the same time as Finn's and Riveria's.

But Caster got his confirmation.

Normally Monsters outside the Dungeon were so weak that any Level 1 could beat them. But there was an area which should be avoided even with a Level 2 and someone like Archer around, then that meant only one thing.

Multiple entrances to the Dungeon did exist, even if it was quite a ways away from Orario proper. A way for someone to smuggle the plant monsters out of the Dungeon without anyone noticing.

"Multiple exits did exist in the past," Riveria said as Caster aired his thoughts. "But the one in Melen had been sealed with the completion of the Grand Quest Leviathan."

"But that was fifteen years ago," Gareth pointed out. "There is a chance that there might be a crack in the seal."

"But Njord Familia watches everything coming into the port," Finn pointed out. "If someone was smuggling these creatures to the shores then that would mean they'd have to know about it. Not to mention the Guild Presence in the city."

"A hand acting outside of view from the head will develop a will of its own," Caster pointed out. "The more I hear about this incident, the more I believe it is impossible that no one in the Guild is aware."

"…That old man…" Riveria muttered as she looked to the side. "Could he possibly be…"

Caster wondered if Riveria was referring to the Guild Head of the main branch in Orario, Royman Mardeel. A typical elf with all the arrogance one would expect from a long lived race except for one single detail.

Caster had seen a lot of amazing and ridiculous things since coming to Orario.

Gods and Goddesses operating food stands, civilian women slapping lecherous gods without any repercussions, a goddess dressed in rags leading a cult telling mortals to reject all forms of wealth…but the sight of a fat elf was one he had never expected.

"No, despite his greed the man is completely loyal to the Guild and Orario," Riveria decided for herself. "He would not jeopardize his own wealth and standing by destroying the city."

"That's another lead we'll have to follow soon," Finn decided before turning toward the Servant with a smile. "Thanks for the tip, Caster."

"Hmm? I was simply asking for advice for a celebration trip," Caster feigned ignorance. "Your gratitude is misplaced."

"What's the occasion then?" Finn asked.

Caster's mouth stretched into a rather feral smile.

"To mark Hestia Familia's victory over the Goliath of course."

X-x-X-x-X

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Assassin asked as she was holding Bell's hand and was leading him back to Archer's tent.

"Y-yeah…somewhat," Bell nodded feeling exhausted.

He was glad Assassin was the one to chase after him. Even though she was technically a few decades older than him at the very least, her mind was still that of a child so she didn't notice what the other two Servants noticed.

"…Archer had a lot of pretty ladies with him, didn't he?" Assassin asked and Bell nodded his head.

"He sure did," Bell said with a laugh.

So it was possible to pick up girls in the Dungeon.

Though they all probably didn't consider Archer anything more than a friend.

They were in different Familias after all.

And just like that Bell's heart felt heavy.

It was difficult for members of different Familias to get together. After all, should a child be born between them, which Familia should it join?

That is why one of the would-be couple would have to leave their Familia and join the other's.

Bell would never leave Hestia Familia and he doubted Ais would ever leave Loki Familia.

His first crush was over before it even had a chance to begin.

"Ahahaha…"

He could only let out a sad laugh at the thought.

As he did, Saber's words from the other day returned to his head.

He clutched his head and let out a silent scream as he writhed in embarrassment.

"Mommy, people are staring…" Assassin said as she tugged on his sleeve.

Bell quickly turned around and saw the gazes of the confused Loki Familia. To which he quickly bowed his head, grabbed Assassin's hand and hurried along.

"Ah, it's that pretty Elf lady from earlier!"

Bell stopped and turned to where Assassin was pointing to and saw the blonde elf carrying a pot in her hands, looking rather distracted.

"Look out!"

"Huh? Uwaah!"

Unable to see in front of her due to the pot, the girl tripped over a crystal that was poking out of the ground.

In a flash, Bell crossed the distance between them and caught her before she hit the ground.

The contents of the pot splashed out onto his shoulder and he felt the searing pain of hot stew fall onto his shoulder but luckily most of it was saved by Assassin who caught it before it completely hit the ground.

"A-are you all right?" Bell asked, wincing in pain from the stain on his shirt.

"Uh…yes, thank you," the girl nodded as she looked at Bell and then toward Assassin. "Oh, you're from Mister Archer's Familia."

"Y-yes," Bell nodded as he helped her up. "I'm Bell Cranel."

"We're Jack!" Assassin chimed in as she raised the pot over her head.

"Lefiya Verdis…"

She then looked down and Bell followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at his hands which were on her arms.

"Gah! I'm sorry!"

Bell let out a shout as he quickly let go of her, causing her to giggle.

"Don't worry, I don't mind being touched like some other Elves," she said with a smile.

"Lefiya! Are you okay?"

Another member of Loki Familia came running with a box of some sort of fruit wine in her hands.

"The pot's okay!" Assassin replied holding it toward the female Adventurer whose worried expression softened at the sight.

"Good girl," the woman said as she smiled and patted Assassin on the head. She then turned toward Bell, hand still patting Assassin's head as if she was a small animal rather than a Spirit.

"I'm so sorry," Lefiya said, indicating Bell's shoulder. "Come with me for a moment. I'll wash it off for you."

"N-no it's okay," Bell said quickly. "I can do it myself."

"Just let her do it for you," the other woman said with a smile. "It'll be bad if it stains, right? In exchange, I'll be borrowing your Familia member to help out, okay?"

"Then…Jack, can you help Archer and the others with Dinner?" Bell asked.

"Okay!" Assassin nodded as she turned to the Loki Adventurer. "Where do We put this, Big Sis?"

The Adventurer let out a satisfied squeal as she led Assassin down the path.

"Then, please come this way," Lefiya said as she led Bell the opposite direction.

They walked quite a distance from the camp to a small stream of all things.

"…Why would the Dungeon make an entire Floor a Safe Zone?" Bell asked as he took off his armor and shirt and handed it to Lefiya.

"No one is really sure," Lefiya said, rolling up her sleeves. "Some people think that there is some benefit to the Dungeon in keeping people within it but that goes against how it seems to hate Mortals and Gods alike and tries to kill them with its Monsters."

A benefit to keeping Adventurers in the Dungeon as opposed to simply killing them right away. Then again, it could just be trying to lure Adventurers into a false sense of security before it strikes.

"The Dungeon really does seem to 'think' doesn't it?" Bell asked. "Just the other day my Party came across another Party who got ambushed by Al-Miraj and one of their Supporters got injured then it immediately spawned a Monster Party on them."

"Yes," Lefiya nodded. "You get stories like that all the time where things go from bad to worse in a blink of an eye."

She seemed to be speaking from experience herself. Bell wondered if something like that happened down on the Deep Floors himself.

…Duh, of course it did. That's why he suffered Mind Down a few days ago and the fact that so many of their members got poisoned from a Monster Spawn.

He turned his head back toward Lefiya and saw that she had stopped moving her hands and was looking at him.

"Yes?" Bell asked and she jumped, apparently not realizing that she was staring.

"Um…did you really defeat a Minotaur at Level 1?" Lefiya asked.

"Ah…yes…" Bell replied, trying very hard to not sound like he was bragging even though he knew it was an amazing achievement. "Though it completely trashed me around for a bit and destroyed two of my daggers that Archer made for me and my first set of armor. My entire Familia chewed me out for being so reckless too."

So he tried making a joke out of it but Lefiya didn't pay it any mind.

"When…when you were fighting…no, what made you want to fight it alone in the first place?" The elf asked. "From what I heard, Archer was already there to help, right?"

"…I didn't want him to protect me all the time," Bell admitted. "When we first met, he protected me from another Minotaur as well. It felt like…like I would never step out from behind him if I let him save me again. I couldn't…I didn't want him to always be there to protect me. I want to stand beside him someday too."

"…Is this what he meant by we're similar?" Lefiya muttered to herself.

"Hmm? What was that?" Bell asked.

"N-no, it's nothing!" Lefiya said quickly. "I just…think I know how you feel. Only being protected…is a frustrating feeling, isn't it?"

Come to think of it, Lefiya was also also surrounded by living legends in her Familia as well, wasn't she? Braver, Nine Hell, Elgram…Sword Princess.

While Bell was surrounded by people who had been thought to only exist in Legend, Lefiya was surrounded by modern day Heroes. She probably understood what Bell was feeling all too well.

"Then we'll just have to work hard to catch up to them right?" Bell asked with a smile. "It won't be easy but as long as we don't give up, we'll get there someday, right?"

Lefiya just stared at Bell for a moment before she let out a giggle.

"Fufu, I suppose so," Lefiya agreed. "Then here's to the two of us reaching our goals."

The two of them smiled and shook hands, wishing the other good luck on their own dreams.