upon entering the dungeon, Bell entered first and then the 2 waitresses followed after as not to raise suspicion, after all, 2 level 5's entering the dungeon with a level one who isn't in their Familia would look odd to anyone, and definitely get eyes on Bell which he didn't want, so he decided to play it safe and have the 2 track him down through scent, and as they meet up, the went to fight.
Anya was wearing her adventuring clothes which consisted of a white short sleeve shirt that has slightly puffed arm sleeves with a red scarf that she wears on her neck that covers her neck and part of her chin at times, the long part on her back as if flows, black detached sleeves with what looked like gold bands on her biceps, and brown gloves with a red skirt and overskirt that has black pantyhose and dark blue bloomers underneath, and brown boots that go to just under her knees, she also has a medium-sized backpack on her with a satchel on her left hip.
her armor was lightweight armor similar to Bell's that featured a single-plated breastplate that leaves her stomach exposed, shoulder plates that reach down to her lower arms, single-plate Tasset armor on her hips, gauntlets specially made to double as shields, and greaves with poleyn that are specially built to allow full motion of her ankles and legs that gave her look was to give the appeal of a "cool beauty" appeal to her as she seemed pretty, but approachable pretty, she also had a golden spear she was carrying with a bowie knife on her belt as a backup weapon.
Chloe wore a black bodysuit with a black corset over a dark blue ruffle blouse that also reveals her cleavage area due to her D cup breast with a large cape settled over her left shoulder, dark blue hot pants with black tights under, boots with a V collar and cuffed endings above the boots with a simple dark blue lining over the metatarsal that ends just above the knees with a hooded trench coat that covered her ears and made her seem like a human since her ears and tail were hidden as well as wearing a face mask so only her eyes were visible, she gave off a more sinister and mysterious aura with her, someone you don't approach, honestly, different from what Bell saw at first, expecting her to be similar to Anya, but was very wrong.
her armor wasn't visible, but Bell could tell she was wearing leather Armor underneath on her vital areas, and Bell knew instantly that Chloe was likely an assassin in the past as he recognized that trick for them since it make them less conspicuous, and her weapons were hidden as well, so Bell couldn't see them, he made sure to note not to mess with Chloe above all, and wonders what they would have done if he denied them.
upon their meeting up entering the dungeon, they were ready, and while the dungeon was big, they could still somewhat walk around, and since many people often hallucinate on these floors due to being level 1 and 2, even if they are seen, nobody will likely pay it to much mind since it would more than likely be a hallucination to distract them, after all, if you can envision in such realistic detail the person you love being gangbanged by many men or a full-blown orgy with multiple sets of your crushes with them tempting you to strip down and join them, and everything else in between, you could easily hallucinate a man being with 2 or 3 women he naturally shouldn't be with, so Bell, Anya, and Chloe didn't have to worry about rumors starting about them.
Chloe:" Okay, let's see how we can help here, and since the lower down the higher level threat's we will face, you may be more inclined to only go to the 6th floor for now Bell"
Bell:" Because the threats of the dungeon are stronger, or the intensity of its effects"
Anya:' yes"
and as they head into the dungeon and fight, Bell didn't even notice anything happening, almost 10 minutes went by and he hasn't even seen a monster, but then he looked at both Anya and Chloe's Crystal sacks as they had a slight bump in it on the bag, and then realized that the 2 were fighting monsters, but they killed the monsters faster than the speed of light, so Bell was not fast enough to even perceive them moving at all, understanding the difference in level with a 4 (technically 3) level gap.
Bell:" You 2 are amazing"
Chloe:" aww, you noticed this soon, you're perceptive, I like that"
as he confirmed their services, Bell bid's them fell well after they go their separate ways and he heads home to an angry Hestia as Bell instinctively gets on his knees and lowers his head as Hestia found the paper with his debt to Hephaestus on it and is fuming in rage.
Hestia:"... I'm not even going to ask, cause I already know what and why she did this... forget it, it hep's us in the long run, but damn if it isn't still annoying"
Bell:" so how are we with our debt, with the funds we got from the Dionysus Familia being taken down, we should be better in terms of paying it off, right"
Hestia:" Let me see, combining the money we have from the Loki Familia's compensation fine to us and the taken-down Dionysus Familia, yet still have enough for next month's rent and a few commodities, we'd be able to get our debt down to 200,000,000 Valas, definitely better, but we're kissing the mass majority of our current fund's goodbye"
Bell:" I can live with that, after all, how can we recruit people to us if they know of our debt, and it's not like we should hide it from them anyway"
Hestia:" I'll just lie down, I need some rest after something like this"
after Hestia got on the couch to sleep since she said Bell needs it more than her since he is doing far more hard work, Bell would do some of his tasks quietly, then maintaining his armor, he stripped to his underwear as he was changing his clothes form his battle clothes to his normal clothes, making sure his goddess was asleep, Hestia however, was awake, and only pretended to be asleep to see Bell naked, taking small peaks time from time so as not to make Bell aware she was awake, and internally struggling with this as well.
Hestia's thoughts:" what in the gods and goddesses am I doing now, I turned down men specifically because I wished to be chaste... or was it because every man there was a scumbag that only wanted to get in my pants"
Bell's thoughts:" I can sense her staring from time to time, maybe I was loud, and she is somewhat waking up... eh, I'll just try to be quieter"
while Bell was doing some of his cleaning and maintenance, he heard a knock as he then got one of his weapons and placed it behind his back as he answered the door, and then saw a beautiful Renard standing at the secret entrance.
Haruhime:" Hello, can I talk to you for a moment"
Bell wasn't sure who she was, but he knew one thing, she was pretty, and looked away with his face matching the color of his eyes as he told her to come in and then the 2 sat down with Hestia pretending to be asleep to hear this without worry, and then haruhime asked a question to Bell which.
Haruhime:" I looked at the report of the Monsterphelia incident, and I had to ask, were you the target in this by your own estimation"
Bell was confused by her question at first, but then he remembered the taming orbs on the monsters, then it all made sense, the adventures fighting, the monsters arriving where he was, and the fact nobody died, he was targeted by this alone, as the person responsible watched, but why, and what was with the wet area.
Bell:" do you have an idea who it is"
Haruhime:" Depends, can I say you will be an Allie of mine and of my Familia in the future"
Bell:" what Familia are you in"
Haruhime:" Ishtar Familia"
Bell:"... okay, so who do you think it is"
Haruhime:"... the day of the incident, me and my goddess went to a cafe where we meet with another goddess, the goddess in question asking if she can be allowed to cause trouble, thanks to my hearing, I heard their conversation clearly despite being in another room, though I missed the part of the conversation thinking too hard about the meaning that made my goddess want to break her neck, but I know one thing of for sure, this isn't just any Familia at work"
Bell then thought of it, and based on the scale, it wasn't able to be done by just anyone, even Evilus wouldn't be able to pull something like this off so easily, so he would hear more of Haruhime's reasonings.
Haruhime:" With the limited notes of the incident I was allowed to read, this Familia got past the guards, some of which were level 5 from our Familia to get to the monsters, they got multiple taming orbs, which are a very expensive and rare item to have with few individual adventurers even having them to begin with, and then nobody dying from this incident we can rule out Evilus since it doesn't match their normal actions, and while adventurers from the guild and Ishtar Familia come to aid with the dragon and silverback, people stood in their way, those are the major details people focused on"
Bell:" What do you mean "major" details people focused on"
Haruhime:" You see, I like to think I am smart as I study regularly every day, and I pay especially close attention to small details many may not know of, and one of the small details that stood out to me is the reports of many fights between adventurers that happened at certain part's of the street, driving people to a direction, while some went one direction and another went one direction, only 3 people stayed consistent on this path that leads to "Ground 0", an unidentified woman with a purple cloak, and a boy and his goddess, meaning only one thing"
Bell:" Someone set that up from the start"
Haruhime:" And you were the target, but given who it is, I am concerned"
Bell:" Who is it"
Haruhime:"... the Norse goddess Freya"
Hestia:" FREYA, oh gods and goddesses, I was right"
Bell:" Right about what"
Hestia:" Listen Bell, you said you were being looked at by someone right"
Bell:" Yes"
Hestia:" I know a lot about the gods and how they act, I can basically predict perfectly who and what god and/or goddess of my mythos is responsible for whatever with even the smallest information, it's how I knew in an instant that Dionysus was part of Evilus so easily, and why everyone in my mythos is so scared of me, cause they know they can't hide from my eyes in any way, shape, or form no matter how careful they are, and while god's and goddesses of other mythos are more tricky, it still follows a certain pattern I can still track"
Bell:" are the god's really that predictable"
Hestia:" To me, absolute, to mortals, no"
Haruhime:" Oh"
Hestia:" point is, I know how Freya operates, and she's not interested in you specifically Bell, she wants your soul, and I can see why"
Hestia saw Bell's soul with her eyes, and say a transparent, almost see-through soul, one void of impurities, something never seen before, and honestly having a 1 in a trillion chance of seeing one ever again, also gave Hestia a headache knowing she should have seen this coming sooner rather than later.
Bell:" My soul, but I thought gods can't own souls... right"
Hestia:" It is against the divine laws to do so, which is why Freya had her title of goddess of war removed in the first place testing Odin, but for the most part, she will likely stop at nothing till she gets you, or more specifically, your soul"
Haruhime:" But if she wants him, why isn't she just grabbing him... unless... getting him too soon will change the soul she craves so much"
Hestia:" I heard of what happened to one she saw as her Odr, but due to rushing, she ruined the soul she wanted and came back empty-handed, maybe this time, she's biding her time till the moment is just right, I can already tell what's she's thinking"
Bell:" What's she thinking"
Hestia:" (mimicking Freya's voice mockingly) Oh it matters not, after all, he's merely a cat playing in my yard, it's good for my cat to run around a bit, after all, he will soon return to my lap anyway, so I can wait for him to tire himself out then to return to me, (back to normal voice) something like that, it's sick, mortals are not toys for the god's to play with"
Bell:" (genuinely confused) We aren't"
Hestia:" There are many divine laws that are actually supposed to prevent us from doing any direct, intentional, and purposeful harm to mortals for no good, justifiable reason, like how Poseidon got his balls bashed by Athena with Hephaestus's hammer for raping Medusa for 100 years, or how for how Artemis was forced to clean up Aphrodite's home for about 50 years for turning a guy into a deer for his dogs to eat him, and no, the fault was on Artemis for bathing in the middle of nowhere, of course someone could just walk by and see her naked, the forest wasn't hers alone and knew people hunted there, so she should have expected that to happen on occasion, that is no excuse"
Bell:"... what about Zeus"
Hestia:"... there is a reason nobody respected or listened to Zeus the Hippocrite"
Bell:" aww"
Hestia:" point is, Freya is dangerous, she's spent years watching gods and goddesses start families and find true love while she is still looking for her Odr, growing more and more desperate as time gone by, she even raped some of the men and women god's and goddesses married even out in the streets in broad daylight even in front of dozens of people to even get a hint of happiness, at least from what I heard, she broke a long time ago, and isn't holding back, and once she sets her sight's on someone, they better be able to defend themselves, listen, miss Haruhime, is it"
Haruhime:" umm, yess"
Hestia:" can you ask Ishtar to have a meeting with me immediately, we need to discuss things, and-..."
Hestia then walked towards Haruhime and looked into her eyes as she moved her head a bit to look at the Renard in front of her and chuckled, saying she can trust Ishtar will be a good goddess to have, especially since Ishtar has a reason to be good now, leaving Haruhiem confused as she reported back to her goddess, who then agreed to meet Hestia but now had a headache, as Haruhime left, Ishtar slumped into her bed as she was going to sleep with only one thing on her mind.
Ishtar:"... she's knows"
Authors notes
the changes in Anya and Chloe's clothes is to highlight some aspects of them I feel make more sense or fit their character more, as I feel that for Chloe especially as an assassin would dress in less revealing clothing and also wear clothing that can confuse people on her race, especially with my changes to beastfolk as a whole
and also, for anyone who doesn't see "Nyaa" in the sentences of most cat folk, I am not writing that in every sentence due to how exhausting it would be to do so, so in my universe, cat folk don't say "Nyaa" unless they are trying to be annoying and mock you
the lack of a fight is actually part of the detail, the fact there was no fight Bell could see was a show of how powerful they were, and also a clear show of the difference in power
the debt being discussed is part of my story, and they acknowledge it early on as they face it head-on, and while it won't disappear anytime soon
the Haruhime meeting Bell this early is to establish their relationship since Bell won't be a hero saving her from Ishtar in this as my version won't do anything to harm Haruhime, also, I plan or her to be similar to L, but only intelligence wise, and while I had this time seem easy, less obvious thing's will be found out by her with little information, so prepare for them
Bell and Hestia finding out about Freya will mostly leave the story unchanged but will make interesting interactions from now on, especially when Bell and Freya "Officially" meet, and how I plan to play that out
and I also have plans for Hestia to be the goddess version of L-level intelligence since Athena is wise, but intelligence-wise compared to someone like Hestia, lacks behind due to her lack of experience compared to her, as well as Hestia having a lot of free time, so she spent that time in the divine realm getting smarter and smarter, like how she was able to manipulate and effortlessly own a literal god as if she was playing with a mortal and take all their power, one reason why she's feared