Authors Note1: Sorry it took so long since the last chapter. For this chapter, two figures here have different ways how their names are written. I decided for the siren to use Ray and the harpy for Fia, since Fear can be confusing in english.

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"Ah, Bell. Welcome again."

"Thank you, Ms. Kiyo."

"Shopping again for your wives?"

"Yes, but not only."

"Hehe, such a reliable young man."

The old woman behind the counter smiled. Bell visited a shop in Orario again, that he had found for a while and took a liking to it. There were all kinds of snacks and sweets here, but it was the honey that had caught Bell´s attention the most.

While he wasn´t a fan of snacks and sweets himself, more than one of his lovers was...and a special group of friends. Also, many of the snacks and sweets here were made with the finest fruits, vegetables and other things from the Demeter Familia. The old woman got a discount from that Familia, since by chance Demeter found out that Bell often bought stuff there.

Demeter took more than just a liking to Bell...he was the one that "owned" her heart. There was a time of the year when Demeter always got depressed, when it was the anniversary of her followers deaths, by the hand of Dionysus.

Since Freya had decided to be more open with the desires that brought her fun, she helped Demeter often in the fields now, the busty goddess was one of the few true friends that Freya had.

And she wanted Demeter to be happy too. Since Freya often had farming dates with Bell...it was really balm for her spirit to do this quiet work with him...Demeter also came into contact with Bell. So far there was no man in Demeter´s heart, but Freya had often told her about Bell, his friendliness,
how charming he was, his purity...and his qualities in bed of course.

When another storm hit Orario, exactly on the special day, Demeter´s mood got really bad, she cried in her house about her followers. So Freya asked Bell if he could go to her, while she helped Demeter´s followers to secure the fields. Bell had gotten really good at comforting women.
Freya wore a wide smile when she looked in the direction of Bell´s soul after a while...she knew what this special pulsing meant.

Hehe, Demeter...for Bell to conquer your lips in under three hours...I wonder how red your face is while you kiss him.

And that was the reason why the shop of the old woman got a discount from Demeter...because her best customer was the lover of the goddess.

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Like always, Bell bought a huge amount, even a bit more than usual. Lily lent him one of her enormous backpacks, it always was quite the funny sight to see how much he stuffed in there.

"Do you want some "special snacks" this time? My grandson did his best again."

"I guess...a little bit..."

Bell was once convinced to try some of these "special snacks"...never before and afterwards had he felt more gross. The young man with mostly red hair had used squid legs that they got in Melen and combined it with a substance called, peanut butter.
No sane person that he knew could bear with this taste...except for Ryu and Haruhime. But he had to admit, both were pregnant and they got...strange cravings.

"Hehe, I´m sure he will brag in front of his wife again."

"They got married?"

"Yes, recently. He said he wants to continue forever, to try and make her say one of his dishes is delicious."

All that Bell knew about the wife of Ms. Kiyo´s grandson was, that she had an incredibly sensitive tongue.

"As long as they are happy."

"Oh, they are."

"Okay, this should be everything."

"What do you do with such an amount of honey?"

"Preservation and cooking."

"But so much?"

"Well, four Familias live in our Mansion and I will bring some to Mama Mia."

"Oho? The Hostess of Fertility uses my stuff? Hehe, now I can be proud too."

Bell paid for everything and carefully brought his backpack outside.

"So then, Ms. Kiyo, until next time."

"Have a safe trip, Bell."

Only a little bit was meant for the Familias and the pub, he would take ninety percent of this stuff with him into the dungeon. Bell mostly bought things that could only be found at the surface. .

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It was his monthly trip to visit the Xenos.

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So that meant he also had to bring a cake, the females among the Xenos loved sweets. Normally, at least Haruhime accompanied him, but she was forbidden from entering the dungeon while she was pregnant...not that she would, even if it were allowed.
On this day, Bell went alone into the dungeon, only bringing Vesta with him, he wouldn´t go too deep so it would be enough. Also, neither Fairy´s Dawn nor Olympus was easy to use with his enormous backpack, for most monsters he would rely on his magic.

The weather was not perfect in Orario, at least for most people. While it didn´t rained, the sky was mostly grey, but it didn´t really mattered for Bell when he was about to enter the dungeon anyway.

But there was one last thing he had to do before he entered the dungeon. He would visit the hospital next to it...a certain grey haired woman who worked there.

On this morning, said woman didn´t worked in the hospital directly, but ran the shop of it.

The door opened with a light cling, they had little bells hung up at the top of the door.

"Welcome, dear customer."

"Good morning, Amid."

"Oh, Bell, good morning."

A faint smile crouched over Amid´s lips, normally she had a neutral face, but for Bell, she always had a smile.

"You have open so early?"

"Well, there are adventurers who want to go into the dungeon early."

She glanced to his armor, weapon and backpack.

Bell chuckled and walked to the counter.

"Well, that´s right."

"And what brings you here this morning? Do you want to buy something?"

"No, what brings me here are two things...one is you."

"Oh." The faintest blush appeared on her cheeks.

Bell carefully opened his backpack and took out the item that was at the top.

"I was shopping and I thought you could need something today."

It was a small package with Amid´s favorite snacks, they always helped her to calm down when the work got stressful.

"Ah, thank you Bell."

Her smile widened when their finger tips touched as he gave her the package.

"And what is the second thing you came here for?"

Bell smiled amorous. "Your lips."

"Eh-!"

Since Amid´s hands held the package, Bell leaned over the counter, put his right hand under her chin and leaned forward to give her a long kiss. Amid loved it when Bell was like this, especially when he surprised her like this.
To her shame, when Bell moved back, Amid moved a little bit forward so that the kiss would last a splitsecond longer.

And of course...in the moment that Amid leaned forward to let the kiss last longer...a young healer of her Familia had to walk into the room...

"Ms. Amid I-..Oh! S-Sorry!"

Being seen to kiss her boyfriend wasn´t shameful...it was shameful that Amid was so absorbed by the kiss, that she didn´t noticed the healer...and went in for a second kiss...so the healer decided to sneak out again.

Kissing twice in the morning and receiving her favorite snacks...the day started good for Amid.

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The monsters on the upper floors didn´t attacked Bell, while they were all ferocious, they sensed the enormous difference in strength. Yet, Bell didn´t allowed the monsters to run away, there was a danger that they would run into lower leveled adventurers en massé this way.
Like it had happened a long time ago with a poor boy and a minotaur...

While they weren´t that valuable or strong, Bell picked up all the magic stones and put them in a special pouch. Even with the backpack, he was quite fast, but for groups of monsters, he just used his magic.
So he moved down pretty fast, his goal was the safety point behind the water capital.

Bell received information regularly, about the movements of big parties or stronger adventurers. So as far as he knew, no strong parties were down at the water capital at the moment. It was time for the Floor Boss to appear again, so most adventurers waited for one of the stronger parties to defeat it.

The water capital was as beautiful as always and he took his time to look at the scenery. Never would he forget his first time down here...that was quite an event. It was hard to hear much when he went further down, due to the sheer volume of the great fall.

But Bell Cranel was Bell Cranel and his ears were quite different from those of other people. Riveria´s, Lefiya´s and Ryu´s elven ears were pretty sharp of course...Haruhime´s ears even more sensitive to other sounds...but Bell Cranel´s ears were the most sensitive in the world for a special sound...

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A maiden in distress.

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Bell´s ears twitched when he noticed a very fine noise...the yell of a woman in danger.

Immediately he sprinted forward, following the noises. Since he came from above, he saw a figure from above, being chased by Iguazus. The bird like monsters dived down and used their suicide attacks in an attempt to kill the woman. Maybe it was an adventurer, wearing a feather cape...but the way she ran looked strange...as if she wasn´t really used to it.
She tried to evade the monsters, but it was hard for her, it also seemed like she was injured. The woman held her left shoulder with her right hand...that was covered by a wide sleeve also made of feathers.

Feathers?

When Bell came closer, he noticed what...who...he saw.

Why is she here?

He didn´t dared to yell out her name, so she wouldn´t get distracted. His speed only doubled when one of the Iguazu slammed into her left "ankle" from behind. With a painfull scream, the woman fell forward, tried to shield her body from the incomming attacks.

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"MS. RAY!"

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Maybe she didn´t heard him because of the great fall, or because she was shielding her head. Bell jumped into the way of the Iguazus, threw down his backpack and drew Vesta. Dodging was not an option, so Bell sliced them to pieces or evaporated them with his magic, with a light cling, magic stones fell to the ground in front of him.
As the attacks she expected didn't come, Ray lifted her head and looked over her bleeding shoulder.

"Bell?!"

The siren´s blue eyes widened, was it immense luck or fate that he came here in the last second? Out of all the people that could help her...it had to be the one that she had fallen in love with.
Like a knight in shining armor, Bell stood between her and the incoming Iguazus, destroying them with an enormous speed.

It was a mistake of her, that resulted in her shoulder getting pierced by an Iguazu, so Ray was unable to fly for now...that was why she had tried to run away from them.

Her heart jumped in joy as she could only watch Bell´s heroic figure...she couldn´t tell him how happy she was right now.

Bell wanted to tell her to use the potions in the backpack to heal her injuries, but then he rememberred, that Ray had problems to grab small things, since she had no hands, only wings.

Eventually the attacks of the Iguazu ended when he destroyed the last one.

"Ms. Ray! Are you okay?!"

"Ah...ouch...not really."

Bell crouched down next to her, he looked really worried because her beautiful wing and skin were covered in blood, around her shoulder, he could easily see the wound there.

"Oh no, we have to heal you!"

"Bell...thank you."

Ray smiled weakly...it was okay to be a bit weak around Bell...she felt protected.

"Not for th-!"

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"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

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That was just Ray´s luck...of course now of all times the Amphisbaena had to spawn again...right when she was so injured and was with Bell in the battle area of that monster.

"Irkh...au..."

She tried to get up, but her ankle hurt very much...maybe broken.

"Ms. Ray."

"Bell?"

"Stay here, don´t move. If anything comes your way, hit this here on the ground and hold it up in their direction."

Bell took off his left armguard, the "Golden Fleece" and put it on the ground next to Ray.

"Bell, what are you doing?!"

"Protecting you."

Her cheeks went deep red when he turned around...these words...they moved her heart.

To watch Bell fight like a true hero to protect her from a dragon type monster...a dream came true for her.

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And...a dream came true for Bell Cranel. He fought like a hero against a dragon to protect an injured Maiden in distress.

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The fight wasn´t really fair...Bell was at level seven...the Amphisbaena was no match for him. The only thing that let this fight last a bit longer, was Bell´s short weapon.

Still...

The fight lasted not even two minutes before the Amphisbaena turned to ash.

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It wouldn´t be unnoticed that Bell defeated this Floor boss alone to protect a woman. Adventurers on the 25th Floor saw the fight from above, but they didn´t noticed that Ray was a monster.
People would talk about this fight...and a certain black minotaur would hear this by chance. He would be proud and upset about his rival...since he wanted to defeat this Floor Boss. But when Bell did that, Asterios decided to go further down and defeat the Balor on the 49th Floor. He had to become stronger before their next duel...it wouldn´t be the last time that these two fought against each other.

Both counted every fight, every victory, every defeat...so far not one of them managed to win two times in a row...even after thirty-two duels. Asterios had searched for Bell in the dungeon after he went up to level seven, feeling that the time had come to settle their score...but these two would never settle their score. Non of them would ever manage to win two times in a row against the other. It was their fate to have an eternal rivalry against the other, driving each other to reach new heights.

Both would never go easy in these fights, breaking bones, tearing flesh wounds, going on until one of them collapsed.

Non of Bell´s wives would understand why he went that far with Asterios, but he would always reply...that this was part of a man´s rommance...that this was something only a man could understand.

Just you wait, my best friend!

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She could only kneel there and watch how the Amphisbaena turned to ash, even when Ray was pretty strong herself, she wouldn´t have been able to do that herself. Her eyes shone more than a bit when her shining knight turned around to her...and her heart skipped a beat.

"Ms. Ray..."

"Bell...you defeated it...alone..."

"Yes, but what is more important, how are you feeling?"

He stopped next to her and kneeled down, so he could take a look at her wounds.

"It still hurts."

"Please wait a moment."

Bell opened the backpack and pulled some of Naza´s special potions out.

"It will become better soon."

Ray groaned when he splashed the potion onto her shoulder, but sighed in relief as it stopped bleeding and the pain got numb. When she could move her wing again a bit, she used both to cover her front more. The Iguazu didn´t only got her shoulder, but one strap of her top, if the other would snap, there was a danger that her upper body would get exposed.
While she paid it no mind when a fellow Xenos would see her like this...Ray very much cared if the person was Bell.

"Mmmmmh...thank you, Bell."

She wasn´t fully healed and even with the Amphisbaena gone, this wasn´t the place to stay with an injured person.

"Can you walk?"

"I don´t think so, my ankle really hurts."

Bell got back up to his feet. He was alone here on the 27th Floor, together with a beautiful woman, who was completely exhausted and defensless...as a man...there was only one thing he could do now.

"Then there is no other choice."

He moved faster than she could react.

"Be-Kya!"

Ray made a very maiden-like squeak when Bell knelt down and suddenly lifted her up...of course in a professional princess carry. His left hand was in the hollow of her knees, he had to admit that her short feathers there were really soft and felt nice.
His right arm went under her back and his fingers barely touched her armpit. Bell had to be very careful with her left wing, on the side he noticed that Ray smelled really nice.

"Please put your left arm around me, hold steady."

"B-B-Bell?! What are you doing?!"

"I have to carry you."

Bell was completely unaware what he did to the poor siren right now. Ray´s face got deep red and her breathing quickened...this was very unexpteced and embarrassing. She was so nervous that Bell heard a light clacking, everytime when the claws at her feet touched.

"Ms. Ray, your face is all red, are you okay?"

"D-Don´t~look~at~me!"

She turned her face away from Bell, not able to look into his eyes. He was amazed by the sound she just made, her last sentence nearly sounded as if she was singing...that was something that often happened to Ray when she was nervous.

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And so Bell Cranel managed to do a second time what no other adventurer ever did...he carried a monster girl in a princess carry.

Strangely, it happened in the water capital again.

So he went in the direction of the 28th Floor and further to head to the safe zone, where the Xenos had currently their hidden village.

With a very embarrassed...but also happy Siren in his arms.

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"Ray! What happened?!"

"Mmmmh!"

Ray tried her best to hide her face behind her wings. As soon as they entered the hidden village of the Xenos, Fia came half running half flying to them. While she was worried if Ray was injured, her eyes literally shone when she saw her dear friend in the arms of the guy she loved.
The young harpy couldn´t help but grin when she noticed how red Ray´s cheeks were.

"She got attacked by Iguazu on the 27th Floor, then the Amphisbaena appeared."

"Oh dear mother dungeon!" Fia clapped her wings in front of her mouth.

"And you saved her?"

"I did."

Fia couldn´t help but have a smug grin behind her wings.

Good for you, Ray. It could almost have been a plan to get his eyes on you...Ehehe.

For a while now, Ray´s thoughts revolved around the man in whose arms she was lying...romantic thoughts.

The other Xenos in the village heard about Ray´s return and came to greet them.

"Bell!"

"Ah, Wiene!"

Bell smiled when the small dragon girl came running. Wiene had grown a bit since Bell met her the first time, but not very much.

"Ray, are you hurt?"

Wiene tried to look in Ray´s face.

"No~~~."

Cute...

Bell couldn´t help but think that, Ray´s voice was a mixture of hiccup and singing. He didn´t knew that this happened now because she got more embarrassed...not because Bell carried her...but because he did it in front of the others.

"P-Please~put~me~down~~~.."

"Oh, right, sorry."

The female among the Xenos murmured as they watched Bell carrying Ray like a princess to a rock, where she could sit down.

"What about a cushion?"

"I~don´t~need~one."

Ray´s cheeks burned, she tried her best to stop her half singing...but it just didn´t worked as long as Bell touched her.

"I mean for your feet, Ray."

"*Chirp*!"

Ray clasped her wings in front of her mouth, she couldn´t stop herself in time from...chirping.

Fia behind them smirked, she could almost see steam rising up from Ray´s head as Bell used her name without honorific and Ray´s reaction to it.

Bell knelt down and gently put Ray on the rock, before he let go of her.

Hauuuu~~~~~~

Thankfully, Wiene averted the attention from Ray when she jumped into Bell´s arms.

"Bell! Bell! Bell!"

"Ahaha, Wiene, I missed you."

"And I you!"

"Yo, brother Bell."

"Lyd, hello."

Instead of shaking hands, Bell and the tall Lizardman slightly bumped their fists against each other, while he held Wiene with his other arm, who hugged his head from the side.

"Thank you for saving Ray."

"Not for that, I couldn´t just watch."

"Hehe, you are too kind."

Other Xenos moved in to greet Bell, he had to shake many claws, tentacles, paws and other extremities.

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"I brought something for you all."

After Wiene eventually let go of Bell, he went to his enormous backpack and started to take things out. At first he handed Lyd the potions that he got from Naza.

"In case someone gets injured."

"My thanks again to lady Naza."

"I will tell her."

Then Bell took out the first delicacy, the Xenos loved the stuff from the surface. Wiene squeaked happy when Bell gave her a jar with honey.

"Honey! I love that!"

She didn´t waited long, opened the jar, dipped one of her fingers inside and put it in her mouth. Strangely, Wiene, all the other female Xenos...all the females that Bell knew...even Ryu had started to do that after she got Astrea back and became pregnant, reacted in the same way to sweets or delicious meals.
Wiene closed her eyes, slightly tilted her head and put her free hand on her cheek while she smiled wide.

"Mmmmmh!"

Is there a rule in the world for women to react that way?

He handed out the various goods, he had bought some things especially for certain Xenos, since they had different tastes.

"Oh before I forgot it, Amid said she would come and visit from time to time, in case one of you is injured somewhere."

All of Bell´s lovers knew about the Xenos, it wouldn´t be possible to hide it from them forever and he didn´t wanted to lie. But he asked each of them to never reveal this secret. He got surprised when he learned from the Loki Familia, that they sheltered Ray for a while, that she even became friends with Tione and Alicia.
The elf still felt bad for how she treated Ray when they first met. But now, not only Ouranos and Fels secretely supported the Xenos, the Loki Familia brought more supplies to their expiditons than they needed...and Tione and Alicia would always vanish for a short time from the party while they moved down.

"Ah, she really is an angel." Lyd grinned.

From all of his lovers, Amid had reacted the least strongly to the revelation... the healer and researcher in her found it rather intriguing. She was able to learn more about the bodies of the Xenos, so her knowledge about healing increased...that was most intriguing.

The Xenos celebrated that Bell came again, enjoying the snacks and sweets that he brought, but not much of it, since it would take a while for him to return with more.

"Bell, where is Haruhime?"

"She can´t go into the dungeon for a long time now."

"Whyyyy?" Wiene looked sad.

"Because she is pregnant."

Not all Xenos understood what that word meant, but unnoticed by Bell, the ears of a harpy and a siren twitched. Fia´s eye glew again, she was always fascinated when it came to love.

"What does that mean?"

Fia raised her wing. "A baby is growing in her belly, right?!"

Bell smiled. "Yes, that is right."

"A baby! Awwww, they are so cute! How did that happen?!" Wiene´s eyes shone.

There was no way that Bell would explain that to Wiene honestly. So he just said that they cuddled and kissed, that it eventually happened.

While the others celebrated with him, Ray had a strange shine in her eyes.

Babies...

Ray as well as all the other Xenos had only faint memories about their previous lives, in her case it was a small image about flying in the sky. Since Bell knew a lot about stories of old, he also knew more than a bit about the old tales. Harpies and Sirens were pretty similar and both races only had female members. So they had to do something similar to amazons, find strong males...but since they were monsters...they had captured human males...to mate with them...and then eat them.

Fia grinned again as she saw how red Ray´s face got again.

For a moment, Ray imagined herself flying through the sky on the surface, accompanied by a smaller siren...with white feathers. Or herself sitting on a rock, the small siren sat on her lap...Bell next to her.

Hauuu...

What Ray didn´t noticed since she tried not to look into his direction...Bell glanced to her from time to time. Contrary to what she always thought, he wasn't repelled by her body...it made her very...exotic instead. Her beautiful wings, her cute fluffy ears, her slender waist, the alluring hips that were covered by her "feather skirt"...and even her small fangs that became visible when she spoke or smiled.

Bell Cranel saw the Siren Ray in a way that an adventurer shouldn´t do...but for him...it didn´t mattered that she was a monster...Ray was a girl, simply as that.

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Authors Note1: I was asked to give Ray a bit love and I liked her in the first place. She will get at least one more chapter, maybe two. After her, the goddess of justice gets a bit love, then Lefiya, Astrea will get a few chapters, Lefiya maybe a bit more, but not as much as Riveria had.