Hello.

Welcome to the second commissioned chapter of this surprisingly well-liked story! Just to clarify each chapter counts as a separate monthly commission.

Thanks once again to SHE Super Heroine Encyclopedia for commissioning this work.

On that note, they want lemons and limes in the future, so I'm making Bell 18 years old.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

I have changed stuff on my ! The Tier 4 commission level is now $10 bucks and I will write and publish when I can. At the same time, all patrons get exclusive access to an Excel Spreadsheet whre I have my OC characaters! Patrons can not only take a look at all the characers I have in mind, but they can also add in their own characters. Once their character is complete, I will figure out a way to incorporate it into the story. All patron created characters are guaranteed to appear!

Danmachi is the property of Fujino Omori.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Different POV narration

Spells and chants

Chapter 2: Meetings and Queens

There were many times Bell found himself wondering what he got himself into. A few from back in his farming days when his gramps would go on some strange drunken ramble and Bell had to drag him to bed, that time Hestia crawled into his bed after he became her familia, learning the rules about going into dungeons, being chased by a minitour and a silverback. Whenever the world seemed to make less and less sense, and right now was definitely one of those times. After all, while he had heard of legendary heroes being able to do impossible feats, but they were at least humans and had the blessing of gods. This was obviously not something that should be happening! Girls don't just pop out of the ground with ice in their body, throwing it around and killing monsters with ease and a smile on her face. Worse part was, he was responsible for this…this…this thing!

"I would recommend you not refer to me as a 'thing'." She said all of a sudden, her tone and expression cross. She punctuated her sentence with a stomp to the floor, sending a row of ice spikes shooting out of the ground into a squad of goblins that had appeared, piercing their guts and ripping them apart with ease.

"Wait," Bell asked with sweat forming on his brow. "Can you-"

"Read your mind? Yes, yes I can." Rosty replied nonchalantly as she waved her hand, flash freezing one of the tunnel walls causing the ants and other beasties that were inside to die quick yet painful deaths.

One of the nifty little traits about this spell. Bell suddenly heard her voice in his head, making him jump, looking around to see if she was actually speaking from elsewhere, making the ice woman smirk as she froze the floor of a downward sloping passage turning it into a slide.

"I'd be careful with my thoughts if I were you." She said, spinning on her toes, which were actually bare now that he noticed, to face him with a leer on her face. "I know a few who won't be so polite about reading your thoughts, especially if you have negative thoughts of them. We women are prideful enough as is."

With that she took a half step back and slid down her self-made slide with ease. After a moment, Bell realized he was being left behind and tried to follow. Of course, he forgot that the floor was ice, his leather boot slipping with his first step causing him to spin in the air, land upside down on his back before finally sliding down. He arrived, literally head first, into a circular chamber several exits and entrances.

Opening his eyes, he looked up and nearly freaked out to see them surrounded by even more ants, some of them twice the size of normal ones! Flipping off his back he hurriedly looked for Rosty to find her, pirouetting? He had no idea why she was dancing, but it was certainly captivating. That seemed to apply to the monsters as well who did not even try to attack, just watched the spectacle. Which is why all of them missed the spears of ice forming in the air above them until she stopped spinning, held up her hand, and brought it and the spears down on everyone. Bell was lucky enough the only get some of his hair cut off.

"Impressed?" She asked as the turned to face him, not even hiding the amusement in her voice. She crouched to look him in the eye, or at least not have to look down so much. "I do hope this little…demonstration was a good display of the benefits from your skill, one that's certainly worth the price."

"Price?" Bell managed to croak out, his voice not quite working yet. "I'm paying something for this."

"Obviously." Rosty scoffed. "Nothing in this world is free or easy. Surely even a naïve littler dreamer like you is aware of that basic rule of reality."

"I'll have you know I am a full-blown man!" He retorted, his voice gaining strength before cracking right at the very end, making him blush in embarrassment and Rosty smirk in amusement. All of a sudden, she straightened up her back and bit, a curious expression on her face as she swung her head from side to side, before finally stopping at an entryway that seemed to go downward. She seemed to stare at it for a while, before the corners of her lips turned upwards into a smirk.

"Well if you are half the man you claim to be," she spoke up turning back to Bell, and lowering her head again, "you shouldn't be troubled when I do this." She grinned before blowing him a kiss.

Now, just a normal level one would be enough to make Bell pass out. However, this was a magically infused kiss making his body freeze up upon hitting the ground. Not enough for his skin to turn blue or any ice to form, but enough that he would be unresponsive for a while unless extra body heat was used.

"You'll thank me later." Rosty chuckled before disappearing in a swirl of snow and ice that had completely dissipated by the time two female adventurers reached the top of the stairs.

The normal course of events would be as follows. Riveria and Aiz, who was still wearing torn clothes, would enter the chamber and see the passed-out Bell. Riveria would diagnosis it as a case of mana exhaustion and Aiz would stay to keep an eye on him while giving him a lap pillow.

Of course, with his body temperature being lower than normal, she thought she had to do more.

Which is why when Bell came to, he found himself wrapped in a tight embrace with his face pressed against Aiz's pert breasts whose softness could be felt even through her armor. Clearly, she thought to warm him up with her own body heat. Not that any of it registered in his head. The only thing that did register was the instinct to gawk like a fish out of water and then jump and run out of there, all while screaming like a little girl.

While he kept quiet about that last part, locking it away so deep in his memory it would take a level 10 adventurer just to find it, there was no hiding the fact that he disobeyed a direct order from his literal goddess.

Which is why he was currently sitting on the floor on his knees, being berated by Hestia, after having received several slaps courtesy of rolled up newspapers and fans that she got out of nowhere.

"After all the love and care I put into helping you get stronger, this is the thanks I get!" she practically yelled through tears of anger making Bell grateful that their abandoned church was, well, abandoned. Sure, the neighborhood was rundown and the building not exactly up to code, but at least there weren't any neighbors who would be disturbed by all this ruckus. Plus, it wasn't the first time Hestia got super emotional or spazzy, it wasn't even the tenth. Dealing with noise complaints on a regular basis would be very troubling and probably expensive. So, crumbling abandoned home it is.

"I come home to find you passed out, and go through the trouble of taking care of you, even updating your status so you can actually use the magic you somehow learned!" She cried out with a few more slaps. "And all I asked was that you wait patiently for a few hours before going into the dungeon to try it out, when its safer!" A few more slaps with extra force. "But could you even do that? NO!" this time the slaps hit his arms as he tried to defend himself, making Bell fear he would not be able to adventure properly. "You had to pretend to be some great hero who can use a newly learned skill or weapon instantly! That's how most of them died! Do you think Hercules recklessly tried every new thing he heard about? No! Because he still had enough brains to know that it's more important to master your skills instead of using the coolest thing in the toybox!"

This continued for a while, finally coming to an end once the goddess had run out of breath, which was saying a lot considering her body size. That was when Bell chose to finally speak up.

"Technically I wasn't alone." He said, his voice coming out as a half squeak. Seeing the look of anger reform on her face, he quickly added, "The spell summoned an ice lady to fight for me!"

"Ice Lady?" Hestia asked in confusion.

"Yeah." Bell replied, sighing in relief at not being beaten again. "she could summon and control ice with ease. Heck she was practically dancing to it."

While Bell was excited by the possibilities of this spell, Hestia was contemplating this information.

'There should not be any spell that can summon other adventurers on call. Even if there were, there's no way any of them have this level of ice magic without making a name for themselves. Unless they were…'

"Show me the book Bell." Hestia ordered.

"What?" Bell asked, less out of confusion regarding what she said and more that her tone of voice was authoritative and demanding respect, a stark difference from her normal behavior.

"The book you read that taught you magic." She repeated herself, urgency entering her voice. "Show it to me!"

"Ok ok!" Bell replied practically jumping to it. It didn't take long for him to find and hand it over since they barely had any books in the first place.

Examining the cover, Hestia found no hints, just blank brown leather. Dread forming in her gut, she opened it to find nothing but blank pages.

"This is a freaking grimoire." She groaned.

"What's that mean?" Bell asks stupidly.

"It means it's a special one-time only, instant teach spell book!" She yelled using the tome itself to smack him across the head. "Now we don't' even know what the pages read or who it might have belonged to! And even if we did, returning it to them would be pointless cause this is now useless! We might as well use it as tinder for the fireplace!"

"But I promised to return it!" Bell squeaked in panic, grabbing the book himself hoping his goddess was wrong only to see the same thing.

While he was freaking out and mumbling about the possibility of making reparations for what was undoubtedly a valuable item, Hestia was contemplating other matters.

'How could there be a grimoire that would let the caster summon an elemental? They haven't been seen in centuries, not even we gods know where they are much less how to contact them. And of all people to grab that tome it had to be Bell. If I didn't know better, I'd think someone was doing this on purpose.'

Oh, if only she knew.

Later that day…

With much reluctance Bell made his way back to the Hostess of Fertility, handed the book over to Mama Mia, and bowed in near tearful apology.

"I'm so sorry!" He cried out as he faced the floor, the weight of his guilt multiplying with each flip of the page his ears picked up as Mia checked the goods herself. "I only meant to borrow it but instead I've ruined it!" Since it had been left in the pub, the owner would have every reason to get angry at the owner and staff for ruining their item and Bell did not want to see his favorite place get into trouble because of him.

"Oh Bell," Syr Flova, a bluish-gray haired waitress, sighed. "To think you would do something so mean."

'Weren't you the one who suggested I take it?' He thought to himself as he turned to face her. Strange thing was, looking at her now, he started to see her as more of a woman. Yeah, he always knew she was female, but now…

That train of thought was interrupted and by book slamming shut and being thrown to the side.

"Don't worry about it." Mama Mia said with a half shrug. "If they come to claim it, we'll just that we found it like this. Though I doubt they will." She added with a snort. "If they knew it was actually that valuable, they wouldn't have left it behind in the first place, accident or not."

"Still…"

"Mama's word is rule here." Syr giggled, getting the white-haired adventurer's attention again. He really could not figure out why looking at her seemed different this time. It was as if he was rediscovering women. "Shouldn't you get going instead of worrying about something like this?"

That question brought him out of his daze and realizing he had a job to do. Hestia was mad enough as is, he still had to make money for the both of them.

Lucky for Bell, his supporter Lilly the short chienthrope with chestnut colored hair did not mind waiting for him and he wasn't that late since he ran at full speed. He did take time to catch his breath and drink some water while at the same time the two made plans for the day. At his request, Syr had made two lunch boxes, they planned out their lunch break for halfway through the day provided they found a good enough spot. That meant large enough for them to maneuver but thin enough so that if any enemies do show up, they wouldn't get surrounded. Honestly, making these plans made Bell regret disobeying Hestia even more.

With that, they finally set off into the dungeon of Osario, eager to get rake in another good payday!

They made relatively quick progress at first, going through the first few floors with ease thanks to both their experience so far and Bell's late-night excursion had reduced the numbers early on. Heck, Bell could even see some patches of mud as they passed through the areas he was in last night, no doubt remains of Rosty's magic, though no magic stones were left for the taking unfortunately. Good thing for their wallets there were enough to get at least some profit from the low-level floors. They continued downward facing the usual array of monsters with a few higher-level ones that required Bell to duck in and dealing damage with multiple stabs, weakening them until there was finally a chance for the finishing blow. It could have gone faster if he had used his new spell, but the warning that the summons might not answer or even listen to him kept him from doing so. All in all, it was going pretty well. So caught up in their victories, neither of them noticed their shadows getting a bit…thicker.

After hours of adventuring and monster slaying, their stomachs were starting to rumble on the 10th floor.

"Guess that's our cue for a lunch break." Bell chuckled. "Good thing we found this alcove." He said, pointing to an ideal spot where they could sit and eat with little worry of ambush. Unloading their packs, which was a lot for Lily considering hers was at least three times bigger than their body, they take quick inventory of their supplies and take note of the magic stones they have collected so far.

"It's a bit smaller than before." Lily comments.

"Well I guess it's going to be one of those days." Bell says. "But let's focus on that later." he smiles pulling out the lunchboxes and handing on to Lily with a smile. "Let's just take a moment to enjoy some rest."

Lily is unable to hide her initial hesitation and distrust, her body instinctively shrinking back from the hand out. She collects herself quickly, however, and takes the offered meal with a smile on her face.

"Thank you so much." She says through the smile plastered on her teeth, internally chuckling at how the benefits of this scam just kept piling up.

For a while the duo took their time savoring their food, letting each bite linger on their taste buds before finally swallowing. However, that soon changed.

"Lily," Bell spoke up, getting looks from his supporter. "Is it just me, or is it darker all of a sudden." Even though they should still have plenty of light (thanks to the strangeness of the dungeon) the walls were much darker than they remembered. They hadn't been eating that long, had they.

"Something's not right." Lily said throwing in her two cents as she reached for secret magic tool she had, already making plans to abandon Bell to improve the chances of her own survival.

That moment of distraction nearly cost Lily her life.

"Look out!" Bell yelled as blades seemed to just materialize out of the darkness nearly stabbing her right in the back. Lucky for her, Bell's warning triggered her reflexes allowing her to jump to the side, avoiding the sharp projectiles. Neither of them were able to get a look at them as they either vanished into the darkness, which was definitely starting to grow along the walls, or they hit the ground and turned into smoke.

Bell stood at the ready with his Hestia Knife, looking everywhere for some sign of their attacker while Lily moved to stand behind him back to back to make sure they did not get caught by surprise.

All any of them could really see, however, were the shadows closing in and the darkness gaining strength.

Okay.

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