Chapter 38 - Meeting on the Moon
5 hours of rest did wonders for the injured and exhausted, although Bell, Lili and Mikoto were still unconscious. When Ais woke up early, she heard Finn and Riveria talking to Hestia about the red hair woman and the magic entity. Fortunately, the enemy seemed to be heading away from Orario and the headquarters towards Telskyura. They all agree that the intention was a surprise attack against the remaining gods in Telskura. At the end of the discussion, Ais told Hestia that Bell is doing better but still sleeping. When Ais let it slipped that they were in the same tent, Hestia screamed "You are not allowed to seduce Bell-kun just because I am not there ... I am the only one who is allowed to seduce Bell ... ..."
After the conversation was over, the relieved Finn and Riveria told Ais "The enemy was apparently trying to eliminate the gods off the surface world. That would presumably allow them to perpetuate their reign of darkness where monsters would control the surface world..." "It is quite possible that they were not aware of Hestia's unique situation and thought they had successfully put all the Orario familias out of business." "Perhaps the magical entity has an ability to detect divine beings and is using it to track down the remaining gods on the surface world. Without power from the Falna, the children cannot fight back, so they probably assumed we would have perished in the dungeon without the Falna's power and there was no way we would have been able to get through the deep floors and the colosseums without the Hestia familias' powers and the Xenos. They probably were not aware of our friendship with the Xenos either since Wiene and the other Xenos were not with us on the previous trip down there ..."
As the group continue to head towards the surface, the next concern was that Udaeus does not respawn early. Fortunately that did not happen. There were some monster encounters but nothing that Ais and Wiene could not readily handle. By lunch time, the group had reached the 18th floor. As they headed to Rivira hoping to search for medical supplies, Bell started to stir and hugged 'Ais'. Except in his delirious state, it seemed Ais was kind of furry. Realizing something was wrong, he opened his eyes, saw Asterius and screamed. Asterius laughed and said "Bell, we are not that type of friends". With that laugh, everyone felt a thousand times better. While Bell was still weak and not in any shape for fighting, he was back and still have his Falna powers. When Bell recovers and with the double boost, they would have their third level 8+ fighter along with Asterius and Wiene while Ais is close behind at level 7+. After waking up, Bell happily settled for Ais' shoulders instead of being cradled by Asterius like a princess. Afterwards, Ais was incredibly relieved and notified Hestia.
After giving Hestia the good news, the conversation shifted what to do. With the enemy heading for Telskyura, there was enough time to hide everyone without Falna powers and to retrieve the Haruhime boosting group. Furthermore, Hestia said even though she cannot return to the surface world, she still had the power to go to the moon. She also said that she could also bring Bell to the moon along with 5 other people, but she would be only able to send Bell back. Thus, the plan was to bring the badly-injured Lili for medical care, as well as Haruhime and 3 of the boosting group to safeguard their leveling capability.
As the group continued to head to the surface, Bell steadily improved after drinking a healing potion. The evening was approaching, but they had a lot to do when they returned to the surface. Fortunately, there were no major encounters because monsters stayed away from the enormous group. When they reached the dungeon entrance, the Ganesha familia members were already removed from the area.
The group then separated. Bell, Ais and Wiene carried the unconscious Lili to the headquarters. Everyone else headed towards a secret hiding location outside Orario, which was Bell's old home in the mountains. For protection, Asterius and Lyd would accompany the large group to the old house. In the meantime, Gros and Ray would stay near the dungeon entrance to prevent monsters from escaping. Everyone continued to be in communications with Hestia, who was monitoring the enemy's location, as they needed to avoid a confrontation at the moment.
When Bell, Ais, Wiene and the unconscious Lili reached the headquarters, they checked that Haruhime's group was still alright. Apparently the enemy was not aware of the group's importance and focused on the gods. Seems like Finn's theory about an ability to detect divine beings may be correct. Bell and Ais kept watch over Haruhime and 3 members of her group while Wiene carried the remaining members to safety back in Orario. After Wiene returned from her ferrying service, Hestia brought Bell, the unconscious Lili, Haruhime and her 3 group members to the moon. Wiene and Ais then headed to rendezvous with everyone else at Bell's old house. When they reached the moon, Hestia's attendants immediately gave Lili medical care while Bell, Haruhime and her 3 group members went to sleep. Being considerate, Hestia did not jump on Bell this time.
The next morning, Bell felt much better after the additional rest, a shower and breakfast. After some maternal nurturing, Hestia updated Bell. As expected, she announced that Bell had leveled to level 7 preboost due to the defeat of the level 9 enemy. Haruhime's update was next but she was still 35% from level 5. After a hug, Hestia sent Bell to his old house in the mountains as she knew there was not much time to waste.
After reaching his old house, Bell found everyone was already there and Wiene back to her vouivre form. They had been busy cleaning up, and there were several wild boar roasting over campfires. However, Finn mentioned that they were no longer leveled up after most of the boost group were released from the spell. At this point, only Bell, Ais, Wiene and Mikoto are the only boosted people. Bell was surprised to see Welf there, but Welf explained that Wiene went to fetch him and Tsubaki from the Hestia familia home.
While they were eating, Hestia contacted the group and updated them with the enemy's location. They were done with Telskyura and headed to a nearby village probably to 'handle' another god. Then Hestia told them the big news...