I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.
One Thing After Another
Ethan groaned as he stirred. Everything felt like it was broken, which it probably was, but he was alive, so he shouldn't complain too much.
"You're awake," Ryuu's voice said from his left.
He forced his eyes open and stared up at her for a moment as his vision slowly focused before blinking and nodding, instantly regretting it as pain lanced through his neck and head.
"Try not to move," Riveria said from Ethan's other side. "Most of your bones are still broken from taking a direct hit from the Goliath. I've been healing you as best I can, along with some of the others in our Familia, but it's a slow process. I'm amazed you were able to survive taking a direct hit at all."
"I'm going to assume I got thrown through the hole down to the Eighteenth Floor," Ethan guessed.
"That's right," Ryuu nodded. "You scared us all. You were covered in blood and your bones were sticking out all over your body. We thought for sure you were dead. Then you almost died several times while we were healing you at first."
"Thank you both for saving me," Ethan said. "Along with whoever else helped."
His eyes flitted around, taking in the inside of the otherwise empty tent. "Where is everyone? And did we find Bell's party?"
"Yes," Ryuu said. "They made it here safely and the Loki Familia healed them as well. Right now, everyone else is heading to a town run by adventurers who live here."
"I see," Ethan said, closing his eyes.
He should have guessed. Ryuu hadn't said as much, but he could easily guess that Hestia was with Bell. He wasn't really surprised. And if nothing else, it definitely proved the difference between them in her eyes. He was severely wounded, and she was spending time with Bell. Couldn't get much clearer than that. He sighed. Just his luck to fall in love with someone who loved someone else.
"I'm sorry," Ryuu said, probably guessing what he was thinking about.
"It's alright," Ethan said, opening his eyes again. You can go, if you want. You don't have to stay with me."
Ryuu nodded, standing. "Take good care of him. He's one of Mama Mia's favorite customers."
"I will," Riveria promised.
She left, and Ethan sighed again, staring up at the top of the tent.
"Why was she apologizing?" Riveria asked. "Was there someone in particular you wanted to be here?"
"Someone," Ethan said. "It doesn't matter now, though. How long until I'm up and about?"
"Probably several hours," Riveria said. "Almost all of your bones were shattered. Like I said, it was a miracle you even survived. A Level One with stats as low as yours taking a hit from a Floor Boss should be a death sentence."
Ethan nodded. "I was probably still under the influence of my Guardian Heart Skill at the time."
"I've never heard of that," Riveria said. "What's it do?"
"Multiplies my stats when I fight to defend someone," Ethan said.
"I see," Riveria nodded. "That might explain it, then. Still, though. You're lucky."
"Actually, we've come to the conclusion that I'm cursed," Ethan said as Riveria began to heal him again.
"The minotaur thing," Riveria nodded. "Ryuu told me about it. I'm sure the gods will find a way to fix it."
"I hope so," Ethan said.
They both fell silent, and a cycle began to different healers coming and going, cycling through to slowly mend his shattered bones. Hours passed and the crystals that one of the healers told Ethan lit the Eighteenth Floor like a sun began to dull, the outside world slowly beginning to creep toward night. Eventually, the others returned from their trip to the town, and a few hours later, Bell dropped by to check on Ethan.
"Hey," Ethan said. "Do anything fun today?"
"Uh..." Bell's face flushed bright red. "Hermes...trick me into peeping on the girls from a tree as they were bathing. And then knocked me in."
Ethan laughed. "How much did they beat you up?"
"They didn't," Bell said. "At least, not yet. I ran away first. Then...accidentally found Ryuu while she was bathing separately."
"I'm guessing she didn't beat you up either," Ethan said.
"No," Bell said. "She believed me that it was an accident."
Ethan shook her head. "So, let me get this straight. You got away with seeing all of them naked, and they didn't even slap you? Even Ais?"
Bell's face turned crimson, and Ethan laughed again.
"You got a good look at her, didn't you?" Ethan smirked.
"I-It was an accident!" Bell stammered.
"What's all this yelling about?" Welf asked, ducking into the tent.
"Bell being a terrible person," Ethan smirked.
Bell's face darkened and Welf grinned, raising an eyebrow.
"What's this now?" Welf asked.
"N-Nothing!" Bell said, voice growing screechy with his panic. "I-I think I hear our goddess calling!" He raced out of the tent, only to shriek in fear and shout an apology, a moment later.
"What happened?" Welf asked.
"Hermes tricked him into peeping on the girls from a tree, then knocked him in," Ethan said.
Welf laughed. "I don't know if he's lucky to be alive, lucky to have gotten the chance, or unlucky for falling in."
Ethan nodded, then sighed, looking toward the tent flap. "How was the town?"
"Expensive," Welf said. "A whetstone was thirteen thousand valis."
"Damn!" Ethan snorted. "Glad I didn't go, then." His smile faded.
"She hasn't even stopped in, has she?" Welf guessed.
"No," Ethan said. "I assumed she was just taking care of something since you all got back."
"We got back..." he stopped, looking off to the side. "Yeah. You're probably right."
Ethan remained silent for a long while before the tent flap opened. Ethan's eyes shifted to it as Ryuu walked in, kneeling beside him and beginning to heal him. Unlike most times when he simply itched, then went numb, this time, a rib fragment shifted and he sucked in a breath, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes before the numb feeling set in.
"Sorry," Ryuu said. "Your ribs have been problematic, according to the other healers, so they were all trying to be nice and wait until you were asleep to do them so it wouldn't hurt you as bad."
"But you decided to get it over with?" Ethan asked.
"No," Ryuu said. "I wanted you to know that this is all your fault for trying to do everything yourself. Just because you have a skill geared toward self-sacrifice and protection, doesn't mean you have to be the only one protecting people."
"I'd rather be here than have anyone important to me have a scratch," Ethan said. "I've lost enough. So, if I have to die to protect the people I care about, that's a small price to pay."
Another rib fragment shifted.
"You should care more about your life," Ryuu said. "You're not a tool to be used and thrown away. You're not a shield, or armor, either. You're a living being, and you should care about being alive."
Ethan sighed. "Maybe."
Ryuu remained silent, continuing to heal him for a while longer, Welf leaving at some point, before sitting back. Ethan closed his eyes, sighing, before opening them again and looking over at her.
"Do you care for Bell?" Ethan asked, Ryuu raising an eyebrow. "Is that why you agreed to come?"
"I consider him a friend," Ryuu said. "But I had another reason to come. I was going to come to this floor soon anyway. This is where my Familia is buried."
Ethan nodded, opening his mouth for a moment, then hesitated. He closed his mouth, looking off to the side, where the light of a fire was casting shadows on the wall of the tent.
"What is it?" Ryuu asked.
"If it had been me that went missing in the dungeon, would you still have come?" Ethan asked.
"Yes," Ryuu said. "I consider you my friend as well."
Ethan smiled slightly. "I haven't been a very good friend. I spend more time in the dungeon than I do anywhere else. I'm barely a part of my Familia."
Despite his best efforts, his eyes began to water, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes.
"You stay in the dungeon as long as you do because you wish to get back to where you were so that you can protect your sister, and your friends," Ryuu said. "Risking your life to spend days at a time growing stronger doesn't make you a bad friend, and it shouldn't reflect poorly on your place in your Familia. It simply shows that you're driven to become as strong as you can quickly. You have no reason to feel bad."
Ethan nodded, trying to will the tears away, unsuccessfully. After a moment, Ryuu reached out, running a hand over his hair. He looked up at her and saw a hint of sympathy in her eyes.
"Your status is only high enough for the upper floors, maybe up to the seventh, and yet you risked everything to come to the Eighteenth Floor in order to help your Familia," Ryuu said. "That alone shows how good a person you are. It shows how much you care about your friends and your Familia, and it shows that you would do anything for your Familia. No one has a right to question whether or not you want to be a part of your Familia."
He smiled, wincing as he reached up to dry his eyes, then gently set his arm back down. "Thank you."
Ryuu nodded, taking her hand back as Riveria walked in again.
"I don't suppose you made any miraculous progress," Riveria said.
"I managed to heal two of his ribs most of the way," Ryuu said.
Riveria grimaced. "Well, that's something. But we're leaving tomorrow, along with almost half of our healers, including most of the higher-level ones. He'll probably have to be carried out, or pulled on a cart."
Ryuu nodded. "If nothing else, I'll stay here with him until he can travel, then we'll make our way out on our own."
"No," Ethan said. "If I have to stay behind, just leave me. Better I alone be trapped down here than both of us."
Ryuu flicked his ribs, and he yelped in pain, then groaned as his flinch aggravated the entire rest of his body. "What did I say about valuing your own life?"
Riveria smiled slightly and began to heal him again.
"Can you focus on my arms and legs before anything else?" Ethan asked. "Even if it hurts to walk, as long as I can, I can manage."
Riveria nodded, shifting her healing spells to his arms and legs. After a while, she left and Ethan let his eyes slide closed.
"Rest," Ryuu said. "You'll probably need it."
Ethan managed a small nod and quickly drifted off to sleep. However, what felt like seconds later, he woke up, hearing someone shouting about Bell seeing Ais naked, and how they wanted to be able to. Ethan looked around, seeing that it was day, based on the light coming through the tent's flap, and how bright the inside was. He was alone at the moment, so he experimentally tried to move, finding that he could, but it hurt. He doubted he'd be able to walk, though. After about twenty minutes, a healer came in, beginning to treat him, focusing on his legs.
"Has the first group already gone?" Ethan asked.
"Yes," the healer nodded. "We'll be leaving about noon."
Ethan nodded and fell silent. The hours ticked by slowly, two more healers coming and going before Ethan finally felt inevitability. He had to pee. He slowly began to push himself up, gritting his teeth and struggling to ignore the pain. Just as he got almost to a kneeling position, a male elf walked in and shouted in surprise, running over and gently stopping him.
"You'll make it worse!" he said.
"Well, unless you want me to piss all over myself, I'm going to have to move," Ethan said.
"Uh...right," the healer nodded. "Fine. Just...take it slow."
He helped him stand slowly, then led him away from the camp to some trees off to the side. Ethan leaned heavily against a tree, relieving himself, only for the dungeon to suddenly shake violently the moment he had put himself away, his legs instantly giving out and dropping him to the ground. He shouted in pain as he crashed down and the healer swore, quickly helping him up.
"What the hell was that?" Ethan groaned as they started back toward the tent.
"I have no idea," the healer said, his face pale.
Ethan could feel it too. A sense of dread filling the air. Ethan looked up, only to stop as a massive black silhouette with a white, human skull appeared above the crystals lining the ceiling, the silhouette growing rapidly until it seemed to fill the false sky. Then, it disappeared a second before the roof of the cavern began to crack, the shaking getting worse. Then, the crystals all darkened. Not quite to the point of what it was at night, but enough that it was hard to see.
"What the fuck is happening?" Ethan breathed.
Suddenly, something massive, humanoid, and black exploded out of the crystals, falling to the ground below with a deafening roar, identical to the Goliath's from one floor up. Ethan felt his body go numb. It was impossible.
"I thought...this was a safe zone," Ethan breathed.
"It...It's supposed to be," the healer said, both watching as a black-skinned, white-haired Goliath stood, roaring.
It was more than triple the Seventeenth Floor's Goliath.
"Go and find Asfi Al Andromeda!" Ethan said. "Tell her to bring me something to block my pain!"
The healer nodded and turned, sprinting away as Ethan staggered to the tent he'd been in, grabbing his sword before staggering back out of it, using the sword to stand, legs trembling, barely supporting him through the pain. He watched as bursts of fire began to flash from the trees around the Goliath, along with screams and roars. The other, usually peaceful, monsters were attacking. The Goliath began to punch down into the ground where there were apparently Adventurers unfortunate enough to be trapped, and also fire blasts of compressed wind from its mouth, an attack called Howl, which only extremely high-level monsters were supposed to have. Ethan swallowed. It had to be a Level Three, at least. Maybe Level Four.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Asfi demanded, running toward him suddenly.
"There you are!" Ethan said. "Give me something for the pain!"
"Are you out of your mind!?" Asfi demanded. "You can't fight! You're still wounded."
"With or without my pain blocked, I'm going to help them!" Ethan snapped, Asfi's eyes widening.
After a moment, she grit her teeth and pulled out a tube of glowing blue liquid. "Drink this. And be careful."
He thanked her and drained the tube instantly. A cold numb feeling spread through his body instantly and all feeling stopped, both pain and otherwise. He lifted his sword and turned, sprinting along the path, his eyes lighting up red as he rapidly sped up. He had a feeling he knew why it was there. There were gods in a dungeon where they locked away monsters. This Goliath found out. He turned, streaking through the trees toward the battle, and found a massive swarm of monsters of all kinds surrounding the rescue party, Bell's party, and a bunch of other adventurers. Ethan extended his arm and fired a Chain Lightning into the swarm of monsters, slaughtering a huge group of them before forming his Light Blade and tearing into the rest in that area, slaughtering them rapidly before looking up. Ryuu was speeding around the battlefield, slaughtering everything. He smiled. She was fighting on an entirely different level than on the way down.
He turned, wading into the monsters on the far side of the group, ignoring Bell and Mikoto both demanding to know why he was there. He slashed a line of monsters aside and hears his shirt tear as a Bugbear's claws managed to reach him before he killed it. He cast Fast Heal, shrinking the gashes into scratches, most likely, though he didn't check. He spun and ducked through a group of Bugbears and a minotaur, spinning around the minotaur's axe, only to be knocked sideways and see blood in the air. He cast it again, then killed the minotaur. A Hellhound launched a ball of fire at him and he rolled out of the way, only to smell burned flesh. He cast it again as he killed the Hellhound. Another minotaur charged out of the trees and he spun, his spin speeding up as a horn tore through his side. He cast it again, glancing down this time and seeing he was riddled with more scratches and small puncture wounds than he'd counted. He was glad he had been healing himself so frequently.
He turned to the Goliath as it moved to punch him and leapt into the air, stepping off its fist and taking off up its arm, his sword and Light Blade both driven into the its arm to about half the blade, carving its arm open as Bell swung around its left leg with his dagger, the blade tearing its leg open as well as Ethan's sword. However, just as Ethan was about to leap away, he lurched forward as his sword kicked sideways. The Goliath's mouth began to glow, only for Ryuu to grab him on the way by, pulling him out of the way and landing in the trees away from the monsters.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" she demanded.
"Helping," Ethan said, looking down at his broken sword. "I can't feel the pain, so I can fight."
"Your entire body is broken!" Ryuu snapped. "You should be as far from this fight as you can be! And look at yourself! You're covered in gashes!"
"Scratches," he corrected her. "My Fast Heal may not affect broken bones, but I can heal burns, sprains and lacerations easily."
"That's not the point!" Ryuu snapped.
Just then, half a dozen powerful spells exploded into the Goliath. Fire, wind, shining white sword silhouettes, ice, lightning. Blood sprayed out of the Goliath in some places, and when the spells stopped, it crashed to the ground, its lower jaw falling off entirely. However, as the adventurers around them moved to finish it, it began to glow with a red aura, all of the stopping.
"It can't be," Ryuu breathed.
It pushed itself up, exposing its skull where its face had been burned off, only for its flesh, all of its wounds, to regenerate. Ethan swallowed hard, then spun, firing a Chain Lightning into a group of monsters charging him and Ryuu, killing them all.
"You need to-" Ryuu was cut off by the Goliath's fists exploding into the ground.
The blast shot outward, obliterating the area around them and hurling them all, adventurers and monsters alike. As it did, a bloody light illuminated the world around them. Ethan groaned, pushing himself up and looking around, seeing Ryuu lying beside him, blood running down the side of her head. A Bugbear roared, stepping out of the trees and slashing at her, only for his shield to partially block the claws. They ripped the shield apart, but they didn't take his arm off. He grabbed what was left of his sword and leapt forward, decapitating the Bugbear with a Light Blade before landing heavily and collapsing. He cast Fast Heal on himself again, closing the new gashes into scratches as well, sealing a few of the others, but exhaustion flooded him instantly.
"Ryuu," Ethan said, dragging himself to her. "Come on. Say something. Yell at me if you have to, just let me know you're alive."
He tore a pieces of his shirt off to wipe the blood off her face and she winced as he neared her scalp, then opened her eyes. He smiled in relief and she sat up, looking around, then up at the Goliath.
"This is bad," Ryuu said. "It's a level Five."
"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "We're in trouble." He looked around, seeing Bell standing a ways away alone. "Go help Bell. I'll retreat to my goddess. Maybe if she finally upgrades my status, I'll be able to help more."
"She still hasn't..." Ryuu trailed off before gritting her teeth and turning back to the Goliath. "Be careful, Ethan."
"You too," Ethan said. "I'll see you soon."
She nodded and both took off, Ethan more staggering than running, heading for the cliff where all of the equipment and spare weapons had been gathered. Before he got there, he stopped as a massive blue explosion went off in front of the Goliath as one of its Howls met one of Bell's enhanced Firebolts. As the dust cleared, the Goliath's head was gone from its nose up. However, after a moment, its mouth curled unto a smile and a second Howl blasted Bell, who was hurled into the air. Then, Ouka leapt up beside Bell with a massive shield, just in time to take the brunt of a slap for Bell, both sailing through the air and crashing down hard. Ethan grit his teeth. If Bell's overpowered enhanced magic wasn't enough, what hope did they have?
He grit his teeth, heading for where Bell landed. That would be where Hestia was. There was no way she'd stay away from Bell if he was wounded. However, as he ran, his numbness began to fade. He grit his teeth, his run turning into an ambling jog, then a jogging limp, and finally to an exhausted stagger. He finally had to stop to rest, his legs trembling hard as full feeling returned. He was broken again. Even if running around and fighting hadn't been rebreaking his bones, that explosion of the Goliath punching the ground after regenerating had definitely broken them.
He staggered away from the tree, only for his legs to give out, spilling him to the ground, Ethan sucking in a breath to silence the scream of agony he wanted to let out. There wasn't time for this. He needed to keep going. He needed to help. He needed to defend his friends. And yet, even as he struggled to stand, using his broken sword for support, he knew he was finished fighting. He managed to half-hobble-half-stagger another two steps before collapsing again. This time, as he lay down, he looked around, seeing Hestia through the trees, kneeling beside Bell and looking at him worriedly. His hand was clutched in both of hers, and tears were leaking from her eyes. He grit his teeth, looking away. He had to be crazy. Why else would his heart be so dead set on dreaming of being with her, when she so clearly would never love him back.
He struggled to his feet again, regaining his feet just as a minotaur stepped out of the trees, several gashes marring its torso and one arm missing. He smiled tiredly. Of course it was a minotaur. What else would find him when he was completely incapable of defending himself?
He raised his sword in both hands, his arms trembling and his legs nearly buckling again. The minotaur snorted, raising its stone axe and pulling it back. Then, just as it moved to step forward, Ryuu dropped in front of it, her wooden sword splitting the minotaur in half diagonally. Ethan sighed, falling heavily to his knees and clamping his teeth shut on another shout of pain, beginning to pant once it had faded. He looked up as Ryuu knelt in front of him.
"Are you alright?" Ryuu asked.
"Whatever potion Asfi gave me to numb the pain wore off," Ethan said. "I'll be okay."
"Good," Ryuu said, then rapped him lightly on the forehead with the handle of her wooden sword. "How many times are you planning to almost die today?"
He paused, then held up a hand, putting his fingers up one at a time, starting with his pinky, until he hit three, then shrugged. "At least once more."
He reached up instantly, eyes lighting up red before he twisted, yanking her to the side and feeling his recently healed rips rebreak from the motion, just before a Bugbear's claws tore across his chest. Ryuu shouted in surprise, instantly killing the Bugbear before healing Ethan's newest wounds. Just as she did, Hestia and Lili reached them, both staring at Ethan in shock, seeing the dark bruising wherever he had a break, making it most of his body, as well as the partially healed gashes, scars from both older wounds that had healed from his time in the dungeon as well as the current battle, and the look of sheer agony on his scrunched up face, though he was unconscious now.
"What the hell is he doing here!?" Hestia asked. "He's too badly hurt to be here!"
"Funny how you know he's too badly hurt to be here, and yet you didn't check on him a single time while he was resting!" Ryuu said venomously. "He made Asfi give him something to numb his pain so he could fight even with his bones broken in order to try to protect everyone, mostly meaning you."
"What?" Hestia gasped. "He..."
"I'm going to take him somewhere safe," Ryuu said, lifting him as gently as she could, though he groaned anyway, remaining unconscious, then turned and ran through the trees.
As she set him down gently at the top of the cliff where the gear was, he stirred, looking up at her, then over toward the Goliath. Just as he did, a bright white-blue light began to shine from Bell, who was directly in front of the Goliath.
"Go," Ethan said. "He needs you to buy him time."
Ryuu nodded and turned, taking off instantly, already beginning to chant an incantation. As she did, monsters began to swarm toward Bell, only for the rest of the Adventurers to begin to fend them off. Ryuu began to tear into the Goliath as she all but flew around and around, beginning to glow green. Asfi flew up in front of the Goliath, hurling something into its eyes, which exploded into a pair of fireballs instantly. Then, Hermes stepped up over Ethan, splashing a potion onto him.
"Special delivery from Asfi," Hermes said as Ethan's entire body went numb again. "She'll probably be mad at me for doing this."
"She'll get over it," Ethan said, shoving himself up and grabbing a saber with a basic, silver guard and a white blade from off to the side.
It was plain, weaker than his last sword, and too fragile for his tastes, but it would do. He backed up just as Ryuu began to blast the Goliath with a dozens of blasts of wind magic at once. However, the Goliath wasn't impressed. It caught her and Ethan could hear her shriek of pain even from the cliff. Then, he launched himself forward, his multiplied stats allowing him to streak all the way across the distance to where he drove his blat into one of the Goliath's eyes, which had both stopped burning already, then slashed out the other side, leaping off of it and slashing its wrist, freeing Ryuu. He caught her as they fell and she flipped, reversing their positions before landing lightly where as he would have broken both legs yet again, probably. Then, she ran.
As a beam of purple light pierced down through the Goliath before forming a gravity barrier around it, Ryuu stopped, setting Ethan on his feet and glaring at him angrily. "Why did you come out here again!?"
"Because I'm not going to sit by and do nothing while the people I care about are risking their lives so long as I can help it," Ethan said. "Thanks to Hermes swiping another of the potion I took the first time from Asfi, I can help."
A minotaur stepped out of the trees behind Ryuu and Ethan streaked past her, just as she charged in the other direction. He jumped, the minotaur's axe passing under him, then split it down the front before turning, seeing her finishing the last of three minotaurs. Then, the Goliath broke free of its gravity barrier, only for Welf to suddenly arrive with a sword with a jagged blade, leaping into the air and swinging it around to point at the Goliath, the weapon unleashing a massive jet of flames that erupted into a massive ball of fire even bigger than the Goliath itself.
"Holy shit," Ethan breathed. "Where the fuck was that during the rest of the fight?"
He looked to Welf just as the sword shattered, leaving only the handle behind. He began to fall, only for Asfi to fly up to him and catch him using the same wing-generating item she'd used to burn the Goliath's eyes. Then, finally, the white-blue light shining from Bell erupted into a massive blast as Bell attacked using a blade he'd had with him when Ethan passed over him. The light was blinding and completely blocked out Ethan's vision, then bled through his eyelids when he closed his eyes. However, when the light faded, the trees between Ethan and Ryuu and the Goliath were gone, and they could see its lower body with a gigantic crystal sticking out of it, the section of its lower body that was now missing its upper half boiling and beginning to spread upward as it began to regenerate.
"No way," Ethan breathed.
"Even that attack wasn't enough?" Ryuu asked.
"That's fine," Ethan said. "Bell's got it handled. But damn. He's got some serious power in whatever skill that is."
Ryuu glanced at him, then back at the Goliath just as Bell leapt off the side of the massive pit the gravity barrier had formed, dagger in-hand, and stabbed the knife down into the top of the crystal, then twisted sharply, splitting it in half. Instantly, the Goliath's remaining body exploded into a cloud of shining white particles and the cloud shot into the air, filling most of the Eighteenth Floor and clearing the bloody light as Bell and the crystal dropped to the ground. Ryuu's eyes widened in shock before relief swept through her. Then, Ethan's numbness faded almost like someone had flipped a switch and he crashed to the ground, a strangled cry of pain forcing its way out this time.
"Ethan!" Ryuu gasped, but he waved her off, even as his face contorted in pain.
"I'm fine," Ethan said. "That second dose...just wore off fast." His face slowly relaxed as he watched everyone congratulating Bell, remaining firmly attached to his side the entire time. "So, you think there's a cart we can bring that crystal back with?"
Ryuu snorted, shaking her head. "Really? That's what you're concerned with?"
"Well, yeah," Ethan said. "Half of that crystal is the size of two or three of me. If we cashed that in, everyone who was part of the fight would be rich."
"That, or the guild wouldn't have enough money to exchange it for, and the entire economy of Orario would collapse," Ryuu said. She looked down at him, seeing him still watching Hestia. "Thank you for saving me."
"Of course," Ethan smiled. "Can't let the girl play knight in shining armor every time."
Ryuu shook her head, a small smile playing at her lips before she lifted him gently, Ethan's face screwing up in pain again, as she headed for the cliff once again. "Come on. Let's see if we can find someone to check how much damage you did to yourself."
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