After Haruhime´s, Lefiya´s and Bell´s fantasies ended and they were finally back in the real world, they were a bit surprised when they got told that Talvi would now join the Miach familia. Since she didn´t know how to fight, she would at first become a normal member of the familia.

And everyone would be even more surprised when Talvi received Miach´s blessing and they discovered that she got magic right from the start.

Pretty nasty magic on top of that...

It was called "Beltane Träumerei".

While the range was short, Talvi would be able to summon a kind of small prison made from poisoned ice. Monsters wouldn´t be able to escape the prison as long as her mind didn´t run out and they would get eaten away by the poison as long as they were inside.

For someone that looked so happy go lucky and innocent, this magic was quite something. But it would take some time before she would go into the dungeon for the first time. At first Talvi wanted to see Orario, Melen and many other things. So she would take on the deliveries for her familia.

And...she would happily act as Nahza´s guinea pig, to test new potions. Nahza recently got many new ideas for potions, that had different effects. It might be due to her new skill "Flash of Inspiration, Leap of Thought", which now and then let her come up with new ideas and possible mixtures.

The first ideas she had were potions for poison resistance, fire resistance, something she called "Drakonid Oil", which would grant a kind of fire element to a weapon for a short time. Another one was a really weird concept, "Daywalker´s potion", which would grant a boost to status between 10 am and 4 pm. The next was "Stoneskin", which would increase the physical resistance of someone, Lena especially looked forward to that since it would only increase the resistance of bare skin.
As a counter part to "Drakonid Oil" she got the idea for "Frost Attack". Others were potions to boost a single status, like Strength and Agility.

Nahza couldn´t really describe the feeling when her skill reacted, she said it felt similar to when a person rememberred something important that they had forgotten. All of her ideas would require ingredients from the dungeon, for the stronger potions probably stuff from the deep levels. Sadly their party weren´t strong enough to go that deep for now, but she had to run tests anyway.

She was really happy about that skill, like this Nahza felt she could do more to support the party. Making mind, health and stamina potions was good, but all of them could only be used during or after a fight. Nahza wanted to support them before their fights even started. And a potion like "Stoneskin" could prevent something like Mikoto´s broken arm and leg during the Goliath fight.

About the weapon oils, the only ones that could get problems with them would be Bell and Welf. Since Bell´s lightning and Ursu´s fire would burn it away. Also...Ursu even came out of Welf for a moment and made clear to him that he shouldn´t even think about using an oil when he had her fire.

Ursu was extremely jealous about having her fire replaced in any way. The fire spirit had a feeling that Haruhime or Nahza would try to take Welf away from her this way or worse...flirt with him. Since she was made by Hephaistos and was more or less part of the goddess, Ursu had the same feelings for Welf that Hephaistos did. Welf was loved by a goddess and a fire spirit. The future would show if that would make him lucky or not.

.

.

After the first meeting was over, they walked the path back and left the forest. The small town had a single inn with a few rooms. While they could of course still use their tents, sleeping in a real bed would be a blessing. Unfortunately...or perhaps fortunately, the inn didn't have enough rooms for everyone, so the couples would have to share rooms and beds. Mikoto and Chigusa almost overheated when they heard that. Sleeping in the same bed so soon after becoming a couple with their loved ones was challenging.

"So, Bell. How´s your Mom?"

"Mh, on some days better, on some days not so good."

"Any progress with your list?"

"We only got the pestle so far. Lefiya said when she goes back to her home forest the next time, she will ask for a small piece of sacred tree wood, to make the bowl. For Mermaid Life blood, I hope we will get it when we´re going down to the Water Capital. For the other things, I have no idea."

"Hm, crushed purity incarnate, that really doesn´t ring a bell, does your Mom have any idea?"

"Sadly no."

"And the Spirit Blood?"

"Where would I even get that?"

Zeus raised an eyebrow. "I have the feeling my dear grandson was way smarter before he got himself two girlfriends."

"Huh?"

Zeus pointed with his thumb to Welf. "How about you ask the lovely lady that lives inside your friend´s body, a drop of blood shouldn´t be too much."

"I never thought about that..."

"Not? And which spirit did you want to ask? A Gnome?"

"Ahm...maybe?"

Zeus shook his head. "It should be a strong spirit, like her. The problem is, she would need a humanoid body for that, in her fire form it would be physical fire. So your friend has to get stronger first, otherwise she probably won´t be able to change her body."

"Wow, really know a lot, Grandpa."

"Of course I do."

"That only leaves the phoenix tear."

Zeus grinned, then he put his hand into his small backpack and pulled something out. It was a small, sealed box. The god waved to Miach and Nahza, so that they would come closer.

"Since you will make the potion, young lady, I will give you this box. It is sealed and inside is a special flask, made from almost unbreakable glas. It contains a single phoenix tear."

"WHAT?!"

Nahza pushed her ears onto her head and whimpered when Bell cried out.

"Why do you have something like that, Grandpa?!"

"When we got forced out of Orario, I took everything valuable that I could carry, you bet Hera did the same. It was the only phoenix tear that our familias had, at least I don´t know if Hera had one. At some point it could become important, so I took it with me."

"Oh."

Zeus smiled. "The one who brought me to this idea was your mother, Bell."

"My mother?"

"Yes. As you know, Meteria asked me to take you with me. Your father had passed away against the black dragon, to protect you and your mother. She was afraid that you might´ve inherited her disease. A phoenix tear is used for the most powerful healing potions."

"She was so worried about me?"

"Of course, you are her son. Just like Alfia, she was only worried about you. Her own dwindling life meant nothing to her, as long as you´re safe. Now we can be thankful that you never showed signs of the disease. So in the end Meteria´s plea might lead to Alfia getting healed from her disease or at least give her more time."

Bell looked at the small box, his eyes looked a bit wet.

When Zeus handed Nahza the box, he looked serious.

"Don´t use it for anything else than this potion. I trust you on that."

Nahza and Miach nodded.

Then Zeus grinned to Bell. "So, with that you have the second item on your list, the third will come when your lovely girlfriend visits her family and two others will come in the future. Things are looking good."

Bell had no words, the phoenix tear would´ve been one of the most difficult to get. He just hugged Zeus.

"Thank you, Grandpa."

"No problem, Bell."

.

.
Of course their conversation was heard by the others. Lefiya and Haruhime smiled relieved, Bell finally got one more important item. Welf heard what they talked about too.

Have you heard what he said, Ursu?

The answer was a sound like a crackling fire, for some reason Welf could understand everything that Ursu wanted to say, even when she didn´t use normal language.

I will do my best to get stronger, so that you can become stronger too and maybe enjoy the life a bit outside of my body, how does that sound?

A wave of sparks from a fire rushed through Welf´s mind, Ursu was happy.

Zeus continued to talk to the various people in the group while they walked towards the town. And while they walked, things happened in Orario too.

.

.
"Oh man...this is really strange."

"Agreed."

"I bet it´s Kaguya´s fault."

"Why mine?"

"You lead us at the moment, this never happened when Alise lead us."

"Are you kidding me? How could this here be my fault?!"

"Meh...someone has to be at fault. Maybe the monsters are scared of you?"

"They have all reason to be, but tell when this happened before, huh?"

"Hm...if you say it like that..."

The party of the Astrea familia, witht he exception of Ryu, Alise and Lefiya of course, was currently moving through the dungeon. While their captain and Ryu were away for the weekend to go to a lone forest to exchange their pledge, the others went intot he dungeon with Alfia´s notes to search for the hidden things. They had found the hidden hot spring pretty fast and the monsters there were easy to deal with for them, when they kept the walls damaged it was a nice spot to get some rest, they were just a bit sad they could never show this to Astrea.

Then they went further down and slowly noticed something. There were way too few monsters in the dungeon. At first they thought it was due to a big group moving down before they went, but it couldn´t be the Loki familia, they were still busy with cleansing Knossos. And even when another group had moved down before them, they were already at the 25th floor, the start of the Water Capital. Even in the great tree labyrinth above, there were only a few monsters on the main road. From afar they noticed that on the side roads there were still plenty of monsters, even when weaker groups than them were moving there. But it was strange, since they couldn´t see a group ahead of them, the monsters should´ve respawned already.

But that didn´t happen, they couldn´t even hear the cracking noise in the distance that would indicate that monsters respawned. The upper floors down to the 7th even were completely empty on the main road.

Ryana frowned slightly. "Maybe it is due to Knossos?"

"Could be, but it is strange, I´ve never seen so few monsters."

Maryuu leaned slightly over the edge and looked down. "The Amphisbaena isn´t there, it should´ve appeared again already."

Kaguya now frowned too. "No one was allowed to go into the dungeon while we attacked Knossos, it isn´t possible that a group strong enough to claim the Amphisbaena went down that fast, we would´ve noticed them."

Only a few familias were able to claim the Amphisbaena to begin with. And only a few among them were able to do it with a group of less than twenty or thirty people.

"Maybe..."

"Maryuu?"

"Maybe it was one of the two monsters that escaped Knossos?"

"Would they take the main road?"

"Hm, probably not."

"Anyway we should be careful. Maybe the dungeon just needs time to spawn the monsters again, in case that happens, it could be quite a lot at the same time. So let us go further down and search for this special ore."

The others followed Kaguya, they were on alert at all times.

.

.
It was similar in other parts of the dungeon. A group of six level one adventurers were in parts of their usual floors that they had never seen before, because there were no monsters on the main road.

"This is strange, the complete 7th and 8th floors are empty, there is not one monster here."

Normally adventurers didn´t go that far away from the main road on these floors, because there was no need and it was also dangerous for level ones.

"Shall we go down to the 9th?"

"Yeah, but lets be careful, how are our supplies?"

The group had one supporter with them. "We didn´t even use a single potion so far, except for a bit water and food we are full on supplies."

"Alright, then let us go."

"There is a Killer Ant!"

"Get it!"

The group charged at the lone Killer Ant, the fight was over in a matter of seconds. They would only see four other monsters that day, due to that they wouldn´t make much money.

This problem would start to happen all over the dungeon, where the monsters got killed, they didn´t spawn again. People would go as far as to attack even the monsters on the 18th floor.

And no matter how long they waited, the monsters just wouldn´t spawn again.

.

.
Not only adventurers noticed this, the small group of surviving Xenos hid in one of their hideouts.

Lydo scratched his chin with his remaining claw, he still had problems to find his balance again, since one arm was missing. He sat close to Ray, both guarded the group while the others slept. Fia was curled around Wiene, giving the young Vouivre comfort.

"Ray, is it so quiet for you too?"

"Yes, I can´t hear the voice of mother anymore."

"Strange, this never happened before."

"A lot of things never happened before, like that black one."

"Yeah..."

Ray sniffed. "I can´t believe they´re all gone..."

"So many..."

The Siren looked up, their group had become really small, even when it turned out that there were two other survivors.

Now the only ones they knew that lived were Lydo with his lost arm, Gros with his lost wing, Ray, Fia with her lost foot, Helga, Arles, Wiene, Mary who hid in the water capital and Let. The Goblin had somehow managed to escape the infuriated black monster, he was missing an ear. According to him, he got hit by the massive tail and thrown away, where he lost conciousness. Let was the only one that had seen the massacre first hand and saw the place afterwards.

The Goblin wasn´t the same anymore after what he saw.

They all couldn´t believe what happened. Wild monsters without a mind had attacked them before, that wasn´t unusual, they knew that they were the unusual ones. Even fighting agaisnt an irregular was something they did before. But that black thing...Fafnir...he was something else. He had a mind, as bloodthirsty as it was.

"What shall we do now, Lydo?"

"I don´t know, maybe Fels could help us somehow."

"I hope so.."

"But first we have to be really careful. When mother doesn´t let normal ones appear anymore, the surface dwellers will probably search wherever they can, this could become very dangerous for us."

"I just wished we could live in peace."

"Me too."

Lydo scratched his scar, even when the arm was missing, it somehow itched.

It would be nice to get some help or meet someone nice for once.

.

.

While the afternoon went over into the early evening, words about the strange behavior of the dungeon got out into the city. For hours and hours there wasn´t any form of monsters appearing again. All floors down to the 15th were completely empty now, while a few adventurers hunted the last monsters down to the 19th floor. Thankfully the Xenos were well hidden in their hideout and no one found them.

Up in the city, Alfia didn´t hear anything about the news. She sat in her room, looked down on the papers in front of her and tried to get some writing done. But no words about informations wanted to come out, she looked at the map of the floor she was writing about next to her, the map was done by herself so it was of course perfect. But her eyes wandered again and again to the pictures of Meteria and Bell, the reason for her writer´s block. Alfia didn´t have a problem that Bell went to visit his grandfather and introduce his girlfriends to the old man. Since they moved in such a large group nothing would become dangerous. And due to the personalities of the three, Alfia didn´t think they would do anything naughty, not with how broken Haruhime was inside.

No Alfia´s problem came from something else. Since she had sensitive ears and knew how to get informations, she was aware that Alise and Ryu became a couple and went away for the weekend to exchange their pledge or in other words to get married. At first it surprised Alfia a little, then she saw how Aura and Filvis acted around each other and completely misunderstood it. She thought something romantic was going on between them, which wasn´t the case, Filvis was just Aura´s savior. Alfia let her mind wander around, watched the various girls of the Astrea familia. She was aware that Iska the amazon had a boyfriend, but apparently she was moving forward with him very slowly, especially for an amazon. Since not one of them seemed to be interested in men or have anyone, Alfia assumed that most members of this familia were swinging the other way.

This at first made Alfia glad and relieved. If they were only interested in women, they wouldn´t go after Bell. She was a bit afraid since Bell was so fascinated in elves, that he might get too well along with Ryu...or even Alise after their training. And now these two were off to get married, Alfia guessed that Ryu would take Alise´s last name, since Alise was more the active and "dominant" one.

But then...it hit Alfia. Alise and Ryu were both women! Which meant no matter how long they lived together and did "that", not one of these two could become pregnant!

This in itself wasn´t a problem for Alfia, it was their choice to live. But what would happen if one or both would come to the point where they would long to have a child? A child with their beloved? That wouldn´t be possible since both were women, even the gods or all magicians in the whole world didn´t come up with some magic, potion or tool that let two women have a child together. So what could they do? If they got desperate...ask someone for help. And who was the only male with whom they had regular contact with? Bell!

Bell was extremely handsome in Alfia´s opinion, of course he was handsome, he was Meteria´s son! And that was also a problem! Bell was the splitting image of his mother if she would´ve been a man, except for those cursed eyes. So if these two would be attracted to women, they would be heads over heels for Meteria! And due to that of course for Bell too! So what would happen if one day they would come up with the ridiculous idea to ask Bell for help?!

To ask him give them his seed so they could have a baby?!

Sheer horror ran down Alfia´s spine. She knew Bell well enough, he was the kindest person in the whole world. Even when he was deeply in love with Haruhime and Lefiya...would he be able to say no? Would he refuse to help them as their only chance to have a child? To become mothers? Alfia wasn´t sure at all. A horror scenario filled Alfia´s head, that in a few years when Bell would be doing "that" with his girlfriends, maybe one of them or both would get pregnant. If the lonely, love starved women of the Astrea familia saw and heard this, maybe they would long for children too. Her baby boy was in danger! Alfia could see Ryu and Alise sitting together with Bell, Lefiya and Haruhime, asking them for their support. Ryu was Lefiya´s idol and she looked up to Alise very much. Haruhime also liked them a lot, so maybe both would agree? And she could see Bell actually helping them, just to make them happy.

Even if they wouldn´t treat Bell like the childrens father, this was a huge problem!

Against her will, Alfia pictured Alise kneeling on the bed, giving Ryu support from behind, the shy elf wearing her normal outfit, just missing her pants, while Bell crawled between her legs, Alise teasing Ryu that her pupil was about to put it in her. Then afterwards Alise would surely like to go for it too.

Alfia knew or at least expected that elves actually were hidden perverts, since they were the first to see something lewd in any action. She could actually see Ryu appearing before Bell afterwards.

"Mr. Cranel, you held my hand, we made love, I´m expecting a child now...you better take responsibility and marry me and Alise. In fact Alise told me it would be fine this way."

She knew that Bell had a thing for elves! So could he resist to help Ryu and actually marry her then?!

And with that...the dam would break!

Surely more of the other women would ask Bell for support! Alfia knew that Kaguya was a perverted woman, she could see her sneaking up on Bell when he was in the shower! He could end up doing nearly the whole familia! Maybe even all at once! There were more elves in that familia! Like Lefiya´s big sister, that girl Laurier or the dark elf! And what about the new one, Aura?! If Bell got a taste for elves, he would surely get corrupted by them and start to crave for more! And what if the all so kind and gentle Astrea would like to have a taste too?! She was in a relationship with Ganesha, but Alfia knew how strange the gods were! They could invite him into their bed! Gods surely were naughty enough to get it on with three people, Alfia deeply believed that.

She didn´t want to picture Astrea sandwiched between Ganesha and Bell, showing her true colors as a goddess! And what about Nahza and Mikoto?! Both loved a god and were unable to get pregnant this way! They could ask Bell too! And what about the so called Saint of Orario? The one who helped Haruhime when her tails parted? Alfia heard that she was nice to Bell, so surely she would have her eyes on him too!

If there was even a one percent chance that these women were interested in Bell, Alfia would take it as an absolute! As she did with any danger when it came to Bell.

Her beloved son could end up getting a harem by accident! Only having the best intentions at first!

And what if he would start to like or love doing "that"? He was strong and had an amazon in his familia! Haruhime´s "big sister" was an amazon too! And what about the amazon of the Loki familia that Bell got so well along with? What about Loki´s "princess" that he helped lately? Or that old elven hag! This old woman surely already starved to have a child! And if he would already be corrupted by the taste of elves, he would probably desire an adult one too!

I knew it, Orario has way too many temptations for my baby! Dear heavens...what about this slutty goddess of love and beauty? I have to take care that Bell never meets her!

Or it would be the other way around and also those starved women would try to hunt her bunny baby down!

I have to protect Bell! I can´t let this happen! Why doesn´t it seem to be possible for other men in Orario to attract women?! Why are so many of them alone and without a partner? They should hurry and get one, so that not one of them will look at Bell!

Sure...Meteria would probably love to have a dozen or more children, but not like this!

I will make sure that no other girl or woman dares to look at Bell like this. Asking him for his "help" won´t happen! I will make sure he stays only with his girlfriends! "That" should only be done by couples that are in love! And surely Bell is way too innocent to even dare and think in that direction anyway! He is as pure and innocent as Meteria was!

Alfia still refused to believe that it was actually Meteria who lost her patience back then and pulled her beloved into her bed.

Lefiya and Haruhime somehow managed to make a huge step forward to get accepted by Alfia, just because she had these strange delusions.

There will be no harems in Bell´s life! My baby isn´t like that!

The image of seeing many half elves, chientropes and other children all with white hair or red eyes let Alfia shiver.

Alfia kept overthinking things and cursed silently, until she heard a faint knock at her door.

"It is open."

The door opened and Astrea came inside, after her overthinking just now, Alfia didn´t like to see anyone.

"Alfia, do you have a moment?"

"I do."

"Would you join me for a cup of tea? I have something important to talk about, it´s about something my children told me."

Oh oh...

Alfia would squint her eyes if they weren't closed anyway. Most of the familia still couldn't handle the fact that she walked around with her eyes closed most of the time without being blind. But no one dared to ask her for the reason.

Would her horror vision actually become true and Astrea ask her first to convince Bell to give her children "support"? If that was the case, Alfia would use the chance to destroy that idea in their heads!

"Fine."

"How is your writing going?"

"I´m taking a break."

Astrea smiled in her usual gentle way. "Good, please don´t work too hard."

"Why are you like this to me, Goddess of Justice? I´m your prisoner."

"It is my nature, also you were the one that saved my daughters, I will never forget this and always thank you for it."

"Nnn...do what you want."

Astrea chuckled. "I´m a goddess, of course I do what I want."

"Maybe, but you better never try to seduce Bell."

The Goddess stopped for a moment and blinked confused. "Where is that coming from?"

"Not important."

"Hm, anyway, I belong to Ganesha. And I personaly wouldn´t like to have you as my mother-in-law."

The goddess chuckled when she saw Alfia´s expression slipped.

Astrea led Alfia into the living room, only Kaguya was sitting there, looking like she was in thoughts. There were three cups on the table, together with a teapot. Alfia didn´t even wait for Astrea to sit down in personal armchair, she simply sat down like a queen.

"I have to say that blue dress really suits you, it looks so much different from your usual clothes."

"Are we here to chat about my clothes?"

"No, we´re here because Kaguya and the others saw something disturbing in the dungeon. They barely encountered any monsters and even when they moved as deep as the 27th floor, the monsters they slew didn´t appear again. The floors down to there are mostly empty, some now completely empty."

"Oho?" Alfia raised an eyebrow.

"Did something like that ever happen before in the past? Your former familia and the Zeus familia saw all kinds of things."

"Hm, no. Sometimes it happened that a floor was empty for a short moment when we went fast through there, but only until the dungeon spawned new monsters and then it happened in great number."

"The Ganesha familia is currently patroling together with a few of the Loki familia, but from what we heard, they also don´t see any monsters. Even a normal citizen could go down to the 18th floor now without any problems."

"I never heard about something like this before. It would make sense if the floors were heavily damaged."

Kaguya shook her head, reacting to the conversation for the first time. "That isn´t the case, everything looks normal. Also, to have so many floors damaged...I only saw this once while we fought you on the 18th floor."

"And later when that thing appeared."

Kaguya nodded with a grim face. "Thank you for reminding me..."

"You´re welcome."

Alfia returned Kaguya´s glare with a cold stare.

"So you´re saying all the floors are empty."

"As far as we´ve seen, yes."

"Hm, this is indeed strange. All I can tell you is to keep your eyes open."

Astrea nodded. "I hoped you could tell us this happened before, it worries me quite a lot. Let us hope the monsters will return soon and this won´t become a drought or it could ruin Orario´s economy, as well as give small familias many problems when their source of income is gone."

"Who would´ve thought that the day might come when we hope for monsters to return. But I am with you here, Goddess of Justice. If the monsters return and everything goes back to normal then this would be a good thing."

Not only that things became normal, but in case the dungeon would stay like this for a while, Bell and his girlfriends could end up getting bored and do...things.

"In any case your familia will have a lot more work soon in case this situation remains."

"What do you mean?"

"It´s simple. If the source of income for all adventurers gets cut, problems will arise. The lower familias will have to look out for other things to do, probably end up helping the Demeter familia. But for others it will become a bigger problem. Adventurers that have trouble from the dungeon trips spend their money on alcohol or going to "that place", what will happen when they suddenly don´t have money anymore? "That place" doesn´t serve men who don´t pay, so they can´t do their filthy deed anymore. At the same time the source of income for these women gets cut. And so on, they won´t spend money on the things they buy anymore. For the magic stone industry it will become even harder."

Alfia took a breath.

"All the money in Orario usually circles around, but it will now only flow into one direction and then sit there. So desperate adventurers that need money who need money will most likely end up doing something stupid and commit crime."

Kaguya made a grim expression. "We can´t let this happen. But for now we don´t know how long the situation will last."

"Always expect the worst, girly."

"Girly?"

"That´s what I said, you have my praise for having clean ears."

Kaguya frowned, Alfia made it clear again and again that she didn´t like her. It was mostly because of Kaguya´s "slutty" behaviour, walking around in her underwear and so on.

Astrea looked troubled. "I will talk to Ganesha about this, we need to have a plan in case the situation remains for a while."

They remained quiet for a while. Aura and Filvis passed the entrance of the living room, chatting about something. Astrea smiled when she saw how much Filvis helped her fellow elf.

Alfia looked at Kaguya this time.

"Where you able to find the ore?"

"Yes, it was where your mark said it should be."

"Of course it was."

Kaguya rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it surely looks strange. The Mythril o-"

"Elementium."

"*sigh* Alright...Elementium. It has a deep blue color and it almost looked like something was flowing inside, as if it was real water."

"Let no one see it."

"We´re not dumb, Alfia."

"If you say so."

Astrea couldn´t help but chuckle.

"What are you chuckling for, Goddess of Justice?"

"I´m just glad that you two get along so well. They say quarreling is a sign of friendship."

""We do not get along!""

Astrea just chuckled again.

.

.
"Ryu."

"Alise..."

It was in a forest a few hours away from Orario, the full moon was up in the sky. They were deep inside the forest on a small glade. Alise and Ryu both wore their normal clothes, each holding a white robe under their right arm.

"I hope I didn´t make you wait."

"N-No.."

Ryua was sitting on a rock, so she looked up to her as she came a step closer.

Alise chuckled. "Are you that nervous, Ryu?"

"Of course I am...don´t tease me tonight, Alise."

"I won´t...my love."

"Mmmh!" Ryu´s face and ears got red again.

"Shall we go, Ryu?"

"Yes, m-m-my love..."

"Haaah! You´re so adorable when you´re embarrassed, Ryu!"

"Mouh, Alise.."

Together they slowly walked to a lake that was next to the glade, while looking into each others eyes. When they arrived there they stopped and turned their backs to each other. Piece after piece they took off their clothes and went into the lake, normally they didn´t mind that much being seen naked by one of their familia members, even Ryu didn´t have as much problems as in the past, but when it came to the person standing currently behind them, it was something else.

Slowly and carefully they washed their bodies without looking at each other under the eyes of the moon. Ryu was way more nervous than Alise but the washing helped.

After they made sure that their bodies were as clean as possible, as the pledge demanded, they left the lake, dried themselves with towels and then put on the white clothes. These were silk robes tied to the shoulders with strings. Ryu also wore a pendant with a light green gem, that she had gotten from Astrea. Astrea would give this pendant to every of her followers when they got married, it was a lucky charm. But since Ryu and Alise both were her followers only one of them could wear it.

Together they slowly walked back to the camp, put down their normal clothes and then stood in front of each other in the middle of the sheet that was in the middle of the glade. The forest was quiet, the moon their only witness.

Alise smiled and took Ryu´s hands carefully. She had studied intensively to be able to memorize the following words perfectly.

"Ryu...I love you. You are the one my heart beats for, you are the woman in my mind. By this full moon, I promise to you that you will be the only one for me, now and forever. I give you my everything...my love...my life...my heart...my body...everything will be yours...forever...I love you, Ryu.
I will take you as my partner. I pledge to honour, encourage and support you through our walk together. When our way becomes difficult, I promise to stand by you and uplift you, so that through our union we can accomplish more than we could alone. With every beat of my heart, I will love you."

Ryu looked at Alise, the pounding of her heart calmed down as she heard her words. How long had she dreamed of that day...that it would be like this.

"Alise...I love you. My heart beats only for you, my thoughts are with you everytime. By this full moon, I promise to you that you will be the one for me, now and forever. I will offer you my everything...my life...my love...my b-body...my heart...everything will be yours...forever...I love you, Alise. You were the first to touch my hand and approach me, you saved me back then, you are my reason now, my reason every day. You strengthen my weaknesses, help me with my dreams. Here and now I pledge my life to yours, that I will help you with your dreams as you help me. No matter where life leads me, I know that as long as you are there, that is where I am meant to be."

After finishing the pledge, both leaned forward and with closed eyes, they kissed.

It was an old elven ritual, Alise knew how romantic Ryu was, that she dreamed of it to be like that. The only person that Ryu had ever told that, were Syr and Astrea. It had a very romantic feeling for her and she was happy that it went like this. She couldn´t describe with words how happy she was right now.

On this glade in a deep forest, late at night under a full moon, Alise and Ryu exchanged their pledge and married.

And after their pledge was over, both offered their everything to the other. They crossed the line to adulthood together. As the night went on, Alise learned something important about Ryu, as shy as she was at first, she became as forward as Alise then.

That made Alise very happy, both became happy together, more than one time.

.

.
I feel so comfortable...!

"Mmh..."

The wind in the tree tops...the birds...the lake...

Slowly, Ryu started to wake up, hearing the first sounds of the morning.

I feel so warm...

She felt only the lightest touch of a morning breeze on her face.

My back is wo warm...this feels so...good.

Ryu still kept her eyes closed and snuggled up softly against Alise. Little by little, more impressions reached her mind. The warmth of the sun...the wind...the animals...the soft breathing in her back...the body snuggled up to her...

Ah...bliss..

Gently, she caressed with two fingers of her left hand Alise´s arm, the arm that was around her. The back of her hand touched her chest.

This might as well be heaven...

Slowly...very slowly the started to open her eyes, blinking.

It is so bright already...

"Mmh..."

Ryu heard a light moan behind her, Alise started to wake up.

Her sleepy, half closed, eyes wandered down. They were covered by the blanket so it wasn´t cold, but maybe it just felt warm because they slept together, naked.

I never thought I would do something like that with

The memories of the last night came back to her mind. Only the smallest red shade came to her cheeks.

It felt so good...

"Mmh.."

Alise´s body moved a bit against her.

Hm..

Carefully, Ryu turned around in Alise´s arms to look at his face, his eyes still closed.

"Alise..." She whispered.

"Mmh...mhh...my..fairy princess...?" Blinking slowly, she started to open his eyes.

Ryu chuckled. "It´s me."

"Ry...u?" Her eyes were only half open.

She smiled and continued to whisper. "Good morning."

"Morning.."

She looks so...adorable...when she is sleepy.

Ryu put her cheek on Alise´s chest, she pulled her gently into her arms and together they dozed for a while.

Sometimes...it is nice to be so careless...

When he finally woke up, Alise released Ryu out of her arms and slowly got into a sitting position, yawning.

"Mhh..."

She heard a light moan and looked down. Ryu was resting on her back, the eyes half closed and she smiled to her. She noticed that she had pulled the blanket off her, her face got warm when she saw the sunlight on Ryu´s naked body, but Alise smiled. It was like she was enchanted, her eyes wandered for a moment over these two beautiful mounds and her alluring waist, then she leaned to the side so that she was leaning over Ryu.

A hand touched her cheek lightly and Ryu smiled only a little embarassed. "Alise, it is okay to look at me...just...don´t stare too much."

"Ryu..."

Alise couldn´t stop herself, she leaned over Ryu on her hands, while Ryu carefully put her arms around her and then they had the longest, most loving kiss than ever before.

Our first kiss as a married couple...

Ryu felt Alise´s body moving against her own, then she squeaked when one of Alise´s hands sneaked between their bodies, towards a sensitive spot on Ryu´s body.

"A-Alise...it´s bright morning..."

"I know."

With an amorous smile, Alise leaned down again, all that Ryu wanted to say drowned in a soft moan. Alise was straight forward with her feelings and Ryu decided to let go of her usual behaviour, to give herself to her beloved.

To do this as the first thing in the morning should be outraging, but it felt so nice. Ryu got more embarrassed when Alise slowly went down on her body, leaving a trail of kisses. Alise made to secret out of her worship for Ryu´s thighs. She kissed them all over, stroked and groped them to her hearts content.

"A-Alise, what are you doing?..."

"Giving you a special good morning kiss..."

Ryu´s noises got much louder when Alise finally groped her butt and started to "kiss" her.

Alise couldn´t help but chuckle. "Mmmh~~ I really like elvish cuisine."

"D-Don´t call me a dish!"

"But you´re really tasty. What was it that Kaguya says all the time? Itadakimasu..."

"Hyaaaan!~~~~"

Alise got the best reward ever for her actions, Ryu couldn´t help but squeezed Alise´s head slightly with her thighs, something that Alise surely loved.

Ah...bliss.

After both were completely satisfied, they sat down in the lake to cuddle for a while.

"Hm."

"Alise?"

"I wonder, will we still call you Lion at home? Now that your name is Ryu Lovell?"

.

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Bell and his friends decided to stay a week in the small town, he wanted to spend some time with his grandfather. But not only Bell, the others were interested in Zeus too. Zeus would tell Welf all he could remember about smelting elementium ore and forging it into something. At least all that his child who had managed to work with this stuff told him. For that Welf would need some really strong tools, tools that could withstand the raw power of the ore.

But the one who currently talked with Zeus was Lena. She was moving around the old god on an open gras field, using her hands to walk, Lena sometimes did that to train her balance.

"You really know a way for me to get stronger? And you can help me with my love life?"

"Of course I do, who do you think I am?"

"Then what can you tell me?"

"It is about your magic, there is a way to improve it."

"Oh?"

Lena jumped up, landed on her feet and wiped her hands.

"And how?"

"You are aware about the hidden rules of the world? That shouting out the name of your attack actually makes it stronger?"

"Isn´t that just a joke of the gods?"

"Absolutely not. We gods didn´t make the rules, but we know about them. Focus your magic on that big rock over there."

"Hm, if you say so."

Lena stopped next to Zeus and looked at the rock.

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"Ehtereal jailer, appear in my hand, chain my enemies and submit them to my will...Spectris Catenae!"

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The two small portals appeared in front of Lena, then two chains shot out of them and wrapped around the rock. She tried to pull with all her strength, but the rock didn´t move.

"Would you say this rock gives you as much resistance as the Goliath did?"

"Hm, maybe a bit more. While the Goliath was really strong, it didn´t feel as hard to move as the rock."

"Try to pull with all your strength, you´re close to level three, right?"

"I am."

Lena pulled and pulled, nothing happened.

"See?"

Zeus grinned. "Try to shout out what I tell you now, then pull immediatelly."

Bell saw how Zeus leaned down and whispered something into Lena´s ear.

"Eh? Are you sure?"

"Of course, try it. A child of mine in the past had a similar attack, but he used special whip ropes. He came from the far east, his name was Hanzo."

"Alright, I will try it."

Lena looked really serious, then she opened her mouth and shouted with an incredible loud and strong voice.

.

"GET OVER HERE!"

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When she pulled, the rock didn´t get pulled out, but it cracked and she ripped the upper half away towards her. Lena´s and Bell´s eyes nearly popped out when they saw that, Zeus started to laugh.

"See?"

"Haaaah?! How did this make my magic so much stronger suddenly?!"

"I told you, the hidden rules of the world. Shouting out your attack´s name or doing a side call to a magic spell like this makes it stronger. I had the strongest familia in the world, believe me."

"Wasn´t the Hera familia actually stronger?"

"Nah, my boys were stronger."

"But the Empress was a level nine."

"So? A level doesn´t mean everything. Take Bell´s Mom for example, she was the strongest in her familia despite being only level seven."

"Did you just say "only level seven"?"

"Sure, level seven wasn´t that much of a deal back then."

"Do you think I can get that strong?"

"A lovely lady like you? Of course."

Lena grinned all over her face. "Yeah! Then Bete Loga will surely make me Lena Loga!"

"Try your magic now on this bigger rock."

"Roger!"

.

"GET OVER HERE!"

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The bigger rock also cracked and got ripped away.

"Uwoooooh!"

Zeus laughed. "You did well! You could also try "Come here!" And if you have the chance to get a bard into your party, you could start with something like "Portal Combat!" before you cast your magic."

"Do you think I will be able to summon more portals when I get stronger?"

"Maybe. Why not, it would look quite amazing if you summon them all around a big monster, then shoot the chains and bind it from all directions."

Lena´s eyes sparkled. "I will surely become the strongest of all amazons! Then Bete Loga won´t be able to resist me anymore!"

"You know it´s rare to see an amazon that is so into one guy."

"Well Bete Loga is amazing!"

"Sounds like he is good with the Ladies."

"Yeah, I bet half of his familia is all over him! I mean who wouldn´t?! But any woman that dares to try and take my Bete will have to face me first! I will be the one to take care of him and all of his needs!"

Zeus grinned. "The last man I knew that the Ladies were all over was my boy Maxim."

"Your captain?"

"Jup. He always went to challenge and fight other familias and I mean the whole familia. Maxim tried to be an opstacle for them to become stronger. He was really strong and handsome of course, so many ladies were all over him, even more than one amazon."

"Did he have children?"

"I don´t know of any, but maybe with a woman whom he met outside of Orario or one that left Orario."

"Hm, I know nothing about my father. My mother just told me he was a strong guy, but that is the same for all amazons. Do you think one of your former members could be my father?"

Zeus shrugged his shoulders. "Can´t say no, can´t say yes. Many of them played around with many women."

Lena smirked. "So it isn´t entirely impossible that my father could be a former member of your familia."

"Nah. I bet some of my boys had some children, even if they didn´t know about them. Would be strange if not."

Suddenly, Lena´s smirked widened to a pleased smug grin as she looked at Bell.

"What?"

"Hehe, Big Sister Lena will watch over you, Bell."

"Hah?!"

Zeus laughed again. "Oh I like that!"

"Why do I suddenly get more and more siblings all of a sudden?!"

"Well we don´t know if Lena´s father is one of my boys. But if that were the case she would be more your cousin."

Lena shook her head. "Nope! Big Sis Lena sounds better! Come on, Bell. Call me Big Sis!"

"No!"

"You dare to defy your big sister?!"

Lena liked the idea too much to not tease Bell with it.

"But Grandpa Zeus, you said you can help me with my love life."

Bell was too shocked. Now she even calls him Grandpa Zeus?!

"Oh I like that, since Bell calls me Grandfather, you may call me Grandpa Zeus!"

Lena grinned wide.

"Alright, I will give you a few tips about werewolves, so listen to me."

"Understood!"

"We will start with the moon potion."

"Moon potion?"

"Jup, someone very smart created this potion, it is actually more an oil to aply to your skin. But be careful with it. Apparently you will give off the same scent then as a werewolf woman in heat. So me might jump at you right away and not letting you go for hours."

Lena´s grin couldn´t become any wider than it was. "Ooooooh!~~~ Tell me more!"

And so Zeus did.

He could only do this stuff with Lena, if he would give Bell tips in that direction, Alfia would hunt him to the ends of the world.

Zeus looked really forward to talk with all of Bell´s friends and spend more time with his beloved grandson for the entire week.

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.

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And over the whole week, not even one monster would spawn again in the dungeon. It looked like Orario would be facing a serious, dangerous drought soon.

No one knew how long this would take.