Hah...Why did I let myself be persuaded...
Riveria sighed while she looked at the script that Asfi had given her. It described her role, how she should play the character, her dialogue lines and had a drawing of her costume in it...a very decent one this time.
It also came with a note.
Ms. Riveria, your costume this time was designed by me alone. I kept my god away from the drawing board for you and the sword princess, to make sure it would look appropriate, if anything displeases you, please tell me.
Also I will send you a few magic tool before the play, since we can´t expect you to use your true magic again and again. Of course no magic swords, I am aware what elves think about that.
Riveria was a bit relieved, Asfi wasn´t the type to have indecent thoughts while creating a costume, and this one indeed looked fine. Asfi called it "Demonic Ice Queen", but non of it looked demonic for Riveria.
Asfi described that she would give her a magic item that would change Riveria´s haircolor for a few hours to a light blue, if she would agree.
Putting down the drawing on her desk, Riveria took the script into her hand again and sighed. Normally she would never agree to do something like that, and even Loki´s pleading fell on deaf ears. Despite not caring for her status as a princess, Riveria was a pride elf and such kind of play...was somehow unfitting. It also wasn´t Hermes who persuaded her to do it...no it were two other people that did that. After Hermes had asked Riveria and she had declined, she went out to visit Aina. Riveria didn´t knew how but Aina knew about this stage play.
Riveria guessed that Hermes dropped some hints towards Eina, knowing she would tell her mother.
"Will you do it, Riveria?"
"Aina? No, I don´t think so."
"Oh..."
Aina´s ears went down a bit and she looked sad.
"Aina?"
"I really hoped...to see my dear little sister in an elegant dress like that...acting side by side with your daughter."
"A-Ais isn´t my d-daughter!"
Aina had just smiled. "Not by blood. And you have so many other "children"..."
Kuh...
"Not you too..."
Riveria was weak against Aina and couldn't turn down a request from her "big sister".
"You really...want to see that?"
"Of course I do! I will go with my husband and watch my lovely little sister show how awesome she is!"
"Mmmh..."
"Hehe...you are so cute, Riveria."
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That convinced Riveria already, but every uncertain thought was washed away by...
"Riveria...aren´t you going to play?"
"Ais...I am not sure..."
Riveria was in thoughts all the time since Bell had asked her for permission to propose to Ais. She was pretty sure that Bell wanted to do it during the festival.
"Oh...I wanted to play side by side with you... I thought...we could practice together..."
"Ais..."
Ais looked a bit sad and glanced up to Riveria...using her puppy eyes.
"But...if you don´t want...it´s okay...Mom..."
Kuuuh!
Already weakened by Aina, Riveria had no chance against Ais when she was like that. Ais never had the chance to make many experiences with Aria as a child and it was true that for Ais, Riveria was like her other mother.
The feelings of these two went deeper than just Familia members, deeper than for the other people that Riveria was the "Mommy" for.
"I-If you want to...okay."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
Riveria´s heart got squeezed when she saw the happy gleam on Ais´ face. This was what convinced her, not Hermes...not Loki...it were these two precious people.
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All that didn´t saved Riveria from learning her lines...which were pretty decent most of the time, just a little exaggerated here and there. But now that she had agreed to it, Riveria would give her all and memorize her lines.
Most of her dialogues were with Ais and later with Lefiya, Bell and Haruhime.
I think I should talk to that Renard in the meantime, to get to know her a bit.
During the whole practice for the next four weeks and two days...Riveria couldn´t stop being the "Mommy" sometimes, helping Ais, Lefiya, Haruhime and others...it was really heartwarming.
Without knowing it, Riveria would hit a sensitive point in Haruhime...who never before experienced how it was to be cared about by a motherly figure. Riveria couldn´t escape her nature and her fate...another young person would look up to her like to a mother.
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"Bell...I love you..."
"I love you too, Ais."
"But now...even more..."
"Irgh...Argo...Ais...we´re eating..."
"Geez...you two are so cute, I´m getting diabetes, you know?"
"Ms. Tiona, Ms. Tione, Shhh. Don´t interrupt them!"
Bell had stayed the night at the Loki Mansion, this night Ais would stay at his home, they changed every few days. Right now they were sitting at the breakfast table, together with Tiona, Tione and Lefiya.
Loki was in a good mood and had bought something for her dear children for this breakfast, a sort of "divine" yogurt. Like Soma´s divine wine, there was a goddess that specialized in making fruit based desserts...immortal beings needed a hobby after all.
The goddess only used the finest fruits she got from the Demeter Familia. Normally only gods got to taste her desserts since they were so expensive, but Loki was in a realy, really good mood...due to a certain white haired young man. That Bell had asked Loki for permission made her really happy...and the general way that Bell acted around her, he was the only man that would get flustered by Loki´s behaviour with her body...treating her like a beautiful lady.
So today the children of the Loki Familia got a small bowl of strawberry yogurt each...not even the men declined something this tasty. With one exception...Bell.
Bell wasn´t a fan of sweet things...so...as always...Ais received his share of desserts.
And to get something like this divine yogurt...Ais heart grew five sizes for him on this morning. Her eye shone when Bell gave her his bowl, people who didn´t sat at their table noticed how Ais touched Bell´s feet lightly with her own. She didn´t minded people around when she was so in love and even Riveria had to agree that it was pretty cute to see them like this. While Ais ate her yogurt happily, she smiled all the time to Bell, her cheeks a bit flushed...it was pretty obvious for everyone how much she loved Bell.
And he was happy to have her...sometimes both got lost in each others eyes and someone had to break their eye contact with a hand to get their attention. Only in the dungeon both were fully focussed and fought brilliantly together. Still...so far no one had seen what Bell and Ais were capable of, since they had reached level seven.
They had trained a few times together and went to the dungeon twice, but for now they wanted to focus on the stage play and enjoying a bit time off from fighting.
That Ais had nearly lost Bell due to the black hydra, let her get more cuddly with him. Whenever there was a chance, she cuddled with him or just leaned against him. It was really hard to compare this lively, deeply in love Ais, with the doll princess of the past.
"Argo?"
"Yes, Tiona?"
"Say isn´t it about time you two have babies?"
"Ahm...that´s a bit early..."
Ais didn´t minded the quesiton and smiled happily while eating her dessert.
"Whaaaat? But the earlier you start, the more you can have!"
"Yes...but...ahm...I..."
.
For Bell that was a very personal question, but he couldn´t blame Tiona for being curious. From what Ais told him, yesterday evening, Anakity and Raul told the Familia that she had gotten pregnant.
This was an important information, Anakity had to leave the dungeon party immediately and Raul for a while to be there for her. Loki had cheered loud and danced around...freezing surprised when Anakity told them that it were actually two babies that grew inside her.
"Two...two cute kittens...Raaaaauuuul! You did well my dear!"
Loki jumped onto Raul and hugged him while grinning all over her face.
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So once again many women in the Familia got really interested in children...many of them didn´t had a partner in the first place. The only one that was only half happy was Finn...he had a bad feeling when he saw the look that Tione gave him.
It wasn´t like Bell had never thought about children, while he was only close to getting seventeen and Ais nineteen...maybe some day in the future. For now he was happy to have Ais...and she happy to have his dessert...and him.
"Bell?"
"Lefiya?"
"Do you know what the "secret in the temple" is that we have to discover?"
"Oh you mean in the end of Act I? No, lord Hermes said it is a surprise for us, only that we have to convince the Miko first."
"Oh? I have no dialogue lines with her, only a few that say "Improvise when talking to your brother."."
"Hm, I have quite a few lines with Haruhime there."
"May I take a look?"
"Sorry, but lord Hermes said no one is allowed to look into my script, since there shall be a few things in there to surprise the others. Something about "I want to catch their true surprised reactions, Bell!", or so."
"Hm...lord Hermes seems to have a lot of fun with this."
"I guess."
While Ais was busy enjoying her dessert, Tiona and Tione joined the conversation. To have a talk like that while practicing a stage play was a funny, new experience.
"I have not much dialogue lines. Only a bit of improvising when replying to Gareth and facing you two."
"You will fight against us both?!" Lefiya looked a bit uneasy.
"Yeah, and Lord Hermes said I can go all out since Argo is so crazy strong! Gareth told me the same."
Bell and Lefiya looked uneasy to the main table where Loki, Finn, Gareth and Riveria sat. As if he had heard them, Gareth showed them a thumbs up, grinning.
Lefiya gulped...facing two level six adventurers that were allowed to go all out...even with Bell...but well Bell was at level seven...so maybe.
"B-But even when Bell is so strong, did lord Hermes thought about me being there? I don´t want to be your punching bag!"
"Ah don´t worry Lefiya, our sript says to focus on Argo."
Bell couldn´t say much to it, since he wasn´t allowed to, in order not to ruin the surprise he had to keep secrets. There was one particular moment he wasn't going to reveal, no matter what.
But Bell wasn´t the only one that had secrets, Ais also had one. Like she had asked her, Asfi gave her the sexy version of the demon queen outfit, not asking any question for what she would use it for. Ais had hidden this outfit in one of her closets, waiting for the right moment to show it to Bell.
Tione told her about something called "Cosplay", the maid outfit she kept seemed to be the same.
If it makes Bell happy... !
Ais smiled while she kept enjoying her yogurt.
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Finn smiled lightly while he raised his tea cup again.
"Just look how much fun they have."
Gareth nodded.
"It is good to see the young ones doing something else than fighting."
Riveria leaned back in her chair and smiled too.
"They deserve a break."
Loki didn´t said anything for once, just looking at her happy children, especially Ais and Bell. She became really happy after Bell asked her for permission, but Loki was Loki and she wouldn´t just wait without acting on her own.
After Bell was gone, Loki had a long talk with Riveria. They knew that Tiona, Tione and Lefiya already knew that he would propose to Ais...but Loki wanted to take the chance to make it very special...her little Ais deserved it.
With the exception of Bete and Riveria, Bell would fight against all of the high executives of the Loki Familia in the stage play...so Loki talked to Gareth and Finn after Riveria agreed. The Loki Familia prepared in their own way for the stage play, since all of the scripts had lines that said "improvise"...they would test Bell. For them it would be some kind of ritual to give Bell the chance to proof for everyone to see...that he was the true partner of Ais and wouldn´t yield to anything to reach her side and be with her.
Of course they all had accepted him, but they wanted some fun too...and Loki had something else in mind. Bell and Ais were the new young heroes in talk right now, their new Alias´ would be confirmed after the festival. Loki wanted to show everyone how good and cute these two were...so that everyone would see, they had a very special love.
It would be absolutely romantic to see Bell overcoming as many obstacles as possible, beating the strongest Familia of the city...in Loki´s opinion...by himself to proof that he was worthy. While Lefiya would be at his side and use her magic, she was ordered to not hit anyone and just make the fights look flashy and epic.
Do your best, little rabbit!
Loki expected a lot of both...she wanted to be entertained too. And with Aki being pregnant...things were looking good for her Familia. Also, if things went well...Bell wouldn´t be the only adventurer that would be married to one of her children.
Loki knew how much Bete liked Lena...so maybe...
Heheh...I can´t wait for all those small children here! And see the true "Mommy" Riveria!
"Loki..why are you smirking like that when you look at me?"
"No reason, Ri-Ri."
"Loki!"
Finn and Gareth were polite enough to turn their faces away when they snorted.
At this point in time they all couldn´t know it...but Bell would manage to give Gareth a Déjà-vu during the stage play...or rather a flashback...to a not so pleasant memory.
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"Hah...that was wonderful..."
Ais´ expression spoke of pure bliss...that yogurt was to die for.
"Ais?"
"Lefiya?"
"Say are there orders how you should play the demon queen?"
"Lord Hermes wrote something about "Think about the seven deadly sins!"...but Andromeda wrote something else below his line. "Sword Princess, you may ignore the "Lust" sin...lord Hermes got carried away again."
Ais was relieved she could let out the seventh deadly sin...as embarrassing as it was even thinking it by herself...that was reserved for Bell alone to see...maybe...with the secret outfit...some...day...
"So...Gluttony...Greed...Sloth...Wrath...Envy...Pride...what does this mean?"
Ais looked a bit confused herself. "Apparently I shall play as if the queen has moods, showing one of these emotions."
Well...I can already see her having no problem with Gluttony...or Sloth...
"Oooh Ais! Eating much and sleeping shouldn´t be a problem for you!"
Tiona grinned.
"Tiona?"
"I mean you eat the most out of all of us...and still have such a bombshell body...how do you do this?"
Ais raised her arms and looked at her own body.
"Is it that special?"
"What do you say, Argo? Isn´t Ais´ body almost divine?"
"I wouldn´t say it with these words..."
Bell looked at Ais, they all were nearly blinded by the love in these rubelite eyes.
"But I have to agree...Ais is beyond beautiful."
Ais smiled abashed and slightly touched Bell´s fingers with her own.
Then Ais frowned lightly. "But I don´t know if I want to play Wrath...that is...something from the past."
Tione smirked. "Just imagine Lefiya´s character is coming to steal your premium potato snack and your rabbit."
Most of the people in the room got a strange feeling when light golden wind circled around Ais for a second.
"Stealing...my snack?...My...rabbit?"
"Ooooh! We already have wrath, envy and greed!"
Tione cheered.
"D-Don´t say things like these to Ais!"
"Oh, oh, oh Ais!"
"Hm?" She turned her face to Tiona.
"Will you show your new magic?"
"New...magic?"
"You know, what you can do with your wind now...and using Argo´s fire."
"Hmm...when...Lord Hermes allowes it..."
He would.
"Lefiya?"
"Bell?"
"Say what is with this information here about a deleted scene? Ms. Asfi sent me a note in which she wrote that the scene about "Fina reaching her true potential" got deleted."
"Th-That I won´t talk about!"
To their surprise, Lefiya got deep red all the way up to her ear tips. Hermes had written a scene in which Lefiya´s character Fina was supposed to grow beyond herself. She should unleash her magic, her clothes would burn away...a prepared magical dress of course...and she would stand there with closed eyes, holding her staff, encircled by flames, she would get a new dress after this. Lefiya ran to the Hermes Familia´s home and complained about this.
"Little Lefiya don´t worry! The magical mirrors will get blurry around your body and no one except maybe Bell will see you naked! I promise."
"Absolutely not! Why do I have to get n-naked?!"
"Ahm...fanservice?..."
"What made you think I would be okay with this?! Declined!"
Asfi joined the ashamed elf...Hermes really just wanted to make it look epic. He ended on his knees and kept apologizing.
Sometimes the god tended to go a bit too far.
.
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All of Bell´s Familia alliance would be involved in the festival. Mikoto would play the Ninja in the stageplay, Otara the battle maniac and their Familia would sell far eastern street food. The Miach Familia would do something similar and also run a new kind of advertise with Bell´s permission.
They would sell potions and other stuff made by Nahza, honestly telling that it was them who provided Bell with these things in his early days as an adventurer. Many more customers would come to them, and Nahza would get known more and more as the best potion maker in the whole city...much to Dian Cecht's displeasure...which made Miach and Nahza only more happy.
But Dian Cecht also would lose no time and showing the true power of his saint even more...he only noticed later that Amid would also play her role during the stageplay. The rivalry of these two Familias would remain...even when Amid had secretely fallen for Miach for a long time now...but he was married to Nahza...
Hopefully the poor saint would find someone in her future.
And the Hestia Familia was also busy. Haruhime and Welf would take part in the stage play, Lena would spend the whole time with Bete, while Hestia would show again why she was the number one saleswoman for potato snacks in Orario. Lily had actually agreed to help behind the scenes during the stage play, she would receive a Hades Head from Asfi and move secretely with the actors in case someone would forget their lines.
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The day went on and on.
"So Filvis...I will go now...I come again in two days, okay?"
Lefiya smiled slightly and got up to her feet. She had sat in front of Filvis´ grave for over an hour now. The goddess Anubis was kind enough to give Lefiya a pillow each time she came to visit the grave. Lefiya couldn´t help but feel a little bit happy when she saw the grave, for a special reason. The remains of her staff, that was destroyed by Filvis, was now part of the grave.
Back when she came here with Bell, he accompanied her to give her strength, Lefiya had put the staff upright into the ground. She had used the tip for her armor, to have a memory of it and to have a connection to Filvis, along with her rod and sword that she used now. Maybe because it was an holy elven tree branch or some kind of miracle, but the staff had took root.
Now a small white tree grew on the grave, about three feet high, with beautiful green leaves...and one golden in the middle. When the light slowly went out with the evening, the trunk still looked white, the leaves got dark and only the golden one shone. For Lefiya it was the perfect symbol of Filvis...that there was still her untouched soul inside the darkness that had enveloped her.
Lefiya took care of the small tree, sometimes the goddess Anubis helped her. According to the goddess it was a very beautiful, yet simple grave...fitting for an elf. Sometimes...when the sun fell right onto the tree...it looked almost like a small light phenomenon...Lefiya cried everytime she saw it.
Thankfully there were no other graves around here in a few meters, since the tree would grow to a height of almost five meters. Many...many years later...it would become a sacred part of the enormous graveyard. The only one that would knew who was buried there would be the goddess Anubis and she would never tell anyone. She would just call it, a grave of a loved elf.
As close as they were allowed to do it, other elves would get their graves there, since the small tree would be recognized as an offspring of a holy tree. Like that...Filvis would in death be surrounded by other elves in peace...so she would never be alone. Without knowing it, Lefiya did a deed that even gods would recognize, it wouldn´t help her down on earth...but help Filvis´ soul in heaven.
Lefiya often talked to the small tree, telling Filvis what had happened in the dungeon or with her Familia...she just had the feeling that her dear friend was listening to her...sometimes the leaves rustled and it sounded a little like ... giggling. Many people would say this was stupid or just wishful thinking...but this was a small holy tree...it was a magic being after all.
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"Hmmm..hmmm...hmmm, good evening."
"Good evening, Lefiya."
The Loki Familia kept rotating the guards duty, but they all knew Lefiya anyway. After she went inside, Lefiya took off her shoes and used house slippers. All elves that were part of the Familia did the same, as did most of the women...the men...not so much.
By chance, Loki walked past Lefiya.
"Ah Lefiya, welcome back."
"Thank you, Loki. Do you know where Ais is?"
"Ais? She´s out in the town with the rabbit, somethin´ ´bout a night date."
"A night date?"
"Yep."
"What is a night date?"
"A date in the night, silly."
Lefiya rolled her eyes. "I know that, I mean what are they doing on a night date, they don´t seem like the type to go dancing or drinking."
Loki shrugged her shoulders. "Don´t know, Riveria punched me when I wanted to follow them to peek a bit."
"Hah..."
The goddess grinned. "So how about it, Lefiya. Will you follow them?"
"No, let them be."
"Aww, you´re no fun."
Lefiya still was curious what Bell and Ais might do on a night date.
.
"Mmmmh...this feels wonderful."
"Mhmh...I have to agree...Ais."
Orario was a city that never slept for real, there was always light in some part of the city and on Babel. Bell and Ais had different kind of dates that they liked to do. Training dates, dungeon dates, strolling through the city. But at night...there was a different kind of date that they had started to do.
The part of the wall where they trained was their most favorite spot in the city, there were so much nice memories there. And right next to it was a tower that they used for night dates. Was it something indecent or lewd they did there? In the open air at night when no one could see them? Not really.
A large blanket was spread on the ground, a pretty thick one to block the cold from the stones at night. They had brought some items that were mostly used in the dungeon or during journeys. A heating plate which they had put a teapot on top of, together with two mugs on smaller heating plates. On their right side was a small bowl with light snacks, their boots were at the end of the blanket.
Both sat there, Ais between Bell´s legs, leaned against him, his arms around her and they cuddled while they were turned away from Orario. The sight of the land at night was really nice, together with the sound of the wind that moved through the treetops. They just kept watching the land, sometimes spotting an animal moving along the grasslands, or watched the stars and the moon.
Talking about this and that or just enjoying the others presence. Sometimes they got lost into each others eyes, kept kissing and swore their eternal love for each other again and again.
It was really nice up here so alone.
But Ais had told Riveria what they had done on the night date...not because she demanded to tell her...but she saw how worried Riveria was about her little girl. Motherly love was not easy to calm down.
.
Bell moved his arms slightly around Ais and she her hands on top of his.
"You are so soft, Ais."
"Ehe..and your chest feels pretty hard."
"Ahm...sorry?"
"No..." Ais snuggled more against him. "I like this feeling."
At first when they sat here, they had used another blanket to wrap it around them, until Ais got an idea. Since she had leveled up to seven, she could to more things with her wind magic...not that it was actual magic anymore...it was part of her being.
So she had gently whispered the name of her magic and surrounded them with some sort of barrier that kept the wind away. It was warm enough with the magic tools around them, only the wind would drag the warmth away. They still used the blanket from time to time to cuddle more.
Both looked forward to the winter...they wanted to sit here when it snowed and watch the land then.
But Ais wasn´t the only one that got more control of her magic, Bell had a few tricks up his sleeve as well.
"Fireball.." He whispered gently.
A small fireball, a variation of his firebolt magic, appeared next to them, drifting in the air and only spending a bit light, but enough warmth.
"Hehe...it is pretty convenient to love a thunder-fire rabbit."
Ais smiled to him and gave him a gentle kiss.
"And it is pretty wonderful to love you...my little spirit."
Bell pulled her closer and they kissed again. Both had a few nicknames for the other, nicknames that no one else was ever allowed to hear. In front of others they just called each other by their name or "my love", as it was fitting for couples.
"Ais...I love you."
"And I love you...Bell."
Both would sit there for a very long time and just enjoyed the evening, before returning to the Heart Mansion. It was rare that these two didn´t slept together.
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Authors Note: Hey everyone, thank you all again for all those Reviews, especially Noon12345, it were many.^^
To answer a few questions.
Gamatime: Yes Bell will be seeing Ais wearing the sexy version of her demon lord outfit, it looks pretty similar to the one from Danmemo, but it will be no Lemon scene, of a light love scene around the end of this arc.
mairsarmy321: We will read what Hermes whispered to Bell, but I can´t spoil you.
Pix25: Your answer was in the chapter.^^
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Bit of information, this story is almost as long as "Like a Fairy" but will probably become much longer, since after the end of this arc comes a smaller arc, a few slice of life chapters, before the Expedition arc starts, and this one isn´t the last. Oh and don´t worry, the new Floors won´t be the same jungle ones from Like a Fairy, but I created new ones for this story and we will spend more time in them than in the other story.
I planned to make an Ero one for Lunor, but somehow it didn´t felt right and I couldn´t get the right feeling into it. So next will be Mikoto with Haruhime´s help, then Ryu alone (plays in Like a Fairy), then Ais alone (plays in Spirit Child).