Is it Wrong to Live Transmigrated as Bell Cranel in a Dungeon?

by Meetra 0 Surik

A fan with partial knowledge of the series is merged into Bell shortly after Zeus left him. With no perfect recall, armed with vague knowledge from the anime and other fanfics - Can our protagonist use their knowledge to save OG Bell's loved ones? Can he save the world from the OEBD? Or will he fail everyone and himself? The answer will tell if it is wrong to live as Bell Cranel!

19. Chapter 14: Travel

Is it Wrong to Live Transmigrated as Bell Cranel in a Dungeon?

Chapter 14: Travel

"Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing."

— Herodotus

---

Thankfully, Hestia was much too distracted with reuniting with Artemis to care about the fact we were leading members of the Loki Familia to her Church – let alone that one of those members was Ais Wallenstein herself.

By the time she realized anything, it was too late and we were already inside the Church.

"Wait, why did I allow this?!" Hestia complained to the heavens. Artemis looked nostalgic at Hestia's antics, clutching the Spear of Orion in her hands fiercely.

Look. I get it. You don't approve of the spear approving of me. Artemis, relax.

Ais' expression didn't falter. Lefiya seemed to be feeling sorry for us based on the look on her face.

Ouch. The financial shame, it hurts. Not really, I'm not really affected.

I took a swig of my canteen, sighing internally for the minor relief I felt as the healing potion did its work on my body.

If Hestia had not been distracted with Artemis, she would have likely shot me a look of compassion and pity — since she was the only one besides Naaza who knew anything about my developing medical condition.

But she didn't see me do so. And so I could recover ever so slightly without concern.

I really did not need to start coughing or something like that for the conversation about to take place.

I then turned to Hermes, "So, what's really going on here?"

"Figured that much out, have you?" Hermes said jokingly, "Yeah, there's a reason Artemis Familia is sponsoring this whole thing. They were the latest in a series of Familia that were subjugating a certain monster outside of Orario."

"Outside of Orario?" Lili asked, surprised that a Familia from outside of Orario's walls had gone so far as to enter the city for help. Even if it was a Familia registered with Orario's Guild.

"Yeah, the Artemis Familia had found it, and it's giving them a hard time. So she came here to ask for help…" Hermes explained vaguely.

"So… the grand trip is just…" Welf had cut Hermes off.

Lili finished Welf's sentence, "A monster quest Artemis-sama issued?"

"Right, you have good intuition!" Hermes confirmed.

"I knew this was too good to be true…" Welf lamented the truth of the nature of the 'vacation'.

"A little roundabout of a way to go about it…" Lefiya commented, noticing the weird way this quest was being issued. Ais looked confused, like she was used to getting Quests issued to her in unconventional ways.

"You know, that's called fraud," Lili accused the messenger God.

"Relax now…" Hermes attempted to deflect blame.

"The point stands," Artemis spoke up at that point, "We needed as many people as possible to guarantee that someone could remove the spear. Someone worthy."

"And apparently, someone not a man," Lili deadpanned.

Artemis blushed, but didn't deny the words, "I-I'm just surprised is all. This boy isn't exactly the kind of person I had envisioned."

Artemis looked to Ais, "I was rooting for you to be able to pull it out… But you are completely incompatible."

"I see," Ais said simply, not appearing to be offended or anything.

Lefiya, on the other hand, was very much so, "How could you say that about Ais-san! She is the strongest, prettiest, and bestest adventurer in Loki Familia! No – all of Orario!"

"I don't doubt her physical strength," Artemis said, "But something more is needed to wield the spear without repercussions. It needs an Iphigenia to wield it."

"Or Orion, apparently," I pointed out in a deadpan manner.

Artemis' fierce glare snapped over to me, her gaze promising violent retribution.

"Maa, maa, don't take it too personally, Bell-kun," Hestia said, sounding a little embarrassed, "You have to understand, Artemis presides over purity and cherishes virtue as one of the Virginial Goddesses. Simply put, she is absolutely anti-romance."

"And it takes the form of her being sexist?" I said accusingly, not giving Hestia or Artemis any slack.

"I am not sexist!" Artemis denied, "I treat men and women equally! It is not my fault that men are more predisposed to their carnal lusts and instincts!"

"That's ridiculous," I retorted, "Ishtar is due southeast of here, you know? Your point is utterly subjective."

Artemis blushed in frustration, "T-that's just in her nature as a Divine being! And her Amazons had to develop that way as a result of their biology!" She was referring to how Amazons cannot have male offspring.

"And yet the biology of males from other races gets to be overlooked? You're still cherry-picking arguments to justify yourself!" I point out, not appreciating Artemis' bigotry and attempts to justify it logically.

Artemis got all up in my face, yelling back, "The earnest desire to have and raise a child is one thing! But we all know how often men are genuinely aiming for that and are instead just trying to satisfy themselves!"

"And like I said, that applies to men and women!" I shot back.

"Like you're so innocent!" Artemis argued, "I've heard from her how you've got Hestia wrapped around your fingers! Trying to seduce her! And how you've seduced every girl you've come across to try and make some kind of perverse harem!"

HESTIA WHAT THE FUCK!

What the hell has Hestia been gossiping with Artemis about on the way here?! And how did Artemis come to that conclusion in the first place!?

My face exploded cherry red, "I have not!"

"H-h-harem?!" I could hear Lefiya stutter out in utter embarrassment and anger.

"Harem?" Ais said more innocently.

"Ehe…" Lili chuckled at my expense. Minx!

Hestia made the sounds of a regretfully embarrassed person. Like someone who knows they've been CAUGHT.

I continued to say, "I really have not! I just have a lot of female friends! I haven't done anything untoward!"

"You've looked at my breasts three times in this conversation alone!" Artemis accused me.

"You were keeping track?!" I incredulously retorted, not denying how my eyes had flickered down a few times. My body is a strapping young lad, who has overactive hormone producing organs. Sue me!

"Pervert! Hentai! How can you possibly be Orion?!" Artemis yelled at me.

"Um…" Hermes cut in, "Do you want us all to step outside or something? I mean, if you want to skip ahead to the angry, make-up sex while we are watching, that's fine with me too–"

"HAAAH?!"
"HAAAH?!"

Artemis and I both looked and exclaimed at Hermes simultaneously.

Hermes shivered and sweated in fear before yelping as Hestia and Lili both smacked him upside the head in sync.

I pointed at the Goddess beside me, "She may be pretty on the outside! But that's it!"

At the same time, Artemis yelled, "The hell are you saying, pervert?! Scum! Go die! To think I'd ever! With this human?!"

We happened to face one another in sync, her glare matching my own. Don't get me wrong, Artemis was beautiful, but her attitude was a massive turnoff. It was almost enough to make me forget her current circumstances.

But I didn't forget, so after a moment, I sighed and turned away.

Artemis made a satisfied noise, like she had won something.

I turned to face our crowd, finding my party members and Hestia to be looking at me with shock. I guess me getting so confrontational, with a Goddess no less, was a jarring sight.

Lefiya looked like she was still mad and sheepish about the harem comments.

Ais was just… looking at me. Like she was trying to figure something out. And was failing.

Classic Ais, her social skills couldn't keep up with all the drama in all likelihood.

Anyway, Artemis must have hit Hermes for his comments considering the loud 'bang' from behind me. We all turned to face the two deities, ignoring the lump growing on Hermes' head.

Lefiya spoke up, "So, um, what's so special about the spear anyway? What was the point?"

Thank you, Lefiya, for actually getting things moving along!

Artemis sighed, "As I was trying to say, it requires a pure soul to wield it. You had potential, Iphigenia, but you ultimately failed to meet all the criteria."

It would seem that Lefiya has garnered for herself a new unofficial nickname. Congrats?

Artemis then looked at me with disdain, "I'm still not sure how he managed to do it… But it's true, the spear chooses you… Orion."

It looked like it pained Artemis to admit that I was Orion. I wasn't going to lose sleep over it. That said, I couldn't help but feel like Artemis had lied about something just now… Weird. Why would she feel the need to lie to me? Someone she clearly dislikes?

Hieroglyphs glowed again with power as the spear was once again in my grip.

Welf, who had taken a long look at the spear as it was being talked about, spoke up, "Hermes-sama, is this spear…?"

Hermes cut Welf off, putting his arm around the blacksmith's shoulders, "I told you, this is a legendary spear! Even Hephaestus swears by its quality!"

Hermes then pointed at me dramatically, "The spear has chosen you, Bell-kun!"

Hermes' desperate attempts to distract everyone from the nature of the spear were successful… except from deceiving me who already knew quite a bit about it.

Artemis, with great reluctance, handed the spear to me. Silently agreeing with Hermes' declaration.

Artemis then said, "For the record, I am still against this. Those two are much more qualified to help in my eyes."

Artemis had pointed at the Loki Familia duo.

And again… Artemis was giving off the body language of a liar. Or something. I'm not sure. My intuition was screaming that there was something untruthful about her statement.

I sighed deeply, putting my concerns aside and coming up with a compromise in my head, "Will it make you happy if I have one or both of them join my party for this quest then? Despite… everything, I'm not going to just leave you hanging if it relies on this spear that badly."

Artemis paused at that, "I… li– that's a good idea. Yes, that would work."

She then turned to Lefiya, "I'd prefer if you at the very least would join us, Iphigenia. Maybe I can help you unlock the spear's ability before we get to our destination."

"Huh? Uh, I…" Lefiya stammered at being put on the spot like this, "But Loki-sama…"

"Would totally agree!" Hermes cut in enthusiastically, apparently willing to do anything if it got Artemis to play ball with me. Hermes made a quiet addendum, "...probably."

"Don't worry, Lefiya," Ais spoke up then.

"Ais-san?" Lefiya said, a little surprised at Ais' wholehearted support for this plan.

Ais gave a thumbs up, her expression unchanging, as she said, "Leave it to me. I know just what to do."

"R-really?" Lefiya asked.

Ais nodded, "Leave behind a note explaining why you've gone and when you'll be back. It worked for me."

Lefiya looked at Ais in a mixture of confusion and exasperation. I get the feeling that Ais had done this exact thing before and that Loki hadn't exactly approved.

"Please! Please, Lefiya-chan!" Hermes begged, "I can't go into details right now, but this is really serious! Could you please lend the strength of Loki Familia? Think of all the renown you will get outside the city? Or how Ais-chan will think of you for helping out so selflessly?"

"Ais-san… proud of… me…? Hehehe…" Lefiya got lost in her own little world. Even Artemis seemed to suddenly understand why Lefiya had failed to retrieve the spear. Lefiya was slightly too motivated by the selfish desire for Ais to like her. Which wasn't really a bad thing, but something that the spear must have considered to be too selfish or something.

I'm still a little confused why it liked me though. So my own observations on the matter should be taken with a pinch of salt. Who knows why it rejected Lefiya but accepted me…?

"Lefiya…" Ais said, getting the girl's attention, "I don't really understand what's going on. But, if there is a monster causing trouble, let's go kill it. Yeah?"

"Y-yes, you're right!" Lefiya agreed to her peer's encouragement before turning back to Artemis, "Alright! We accept your quest too!"

Ais nodded. It would seem her desire to slay monsters was overcoming any other sense of reasoning, like how mad Loki might get at her just running off to do her own thing.

Honestly, Loki kind of deserves this for letting Ais and Lefiya be unsupervised. She should really know better. Consider it a prank from me to her.

That, and considering the difficulty ahead, I didn't mind bringing an additional Level 3 and/or 6 along for the journey. (1)

"I'm going too!" Hestia said, "I'd do anything for my dear friend!"

Artemis perked right up, and even went over to hug her fellow Goddess, "Thank you, Hestia! Thank you…"

Hestia sounded embarrassed, "I just don't want him alone with you or Wallenwhatsit… it's too risky…"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

Artemis and I made confused noises in sync. To which Artemis glared at me, and I gladly glared right back.

Hermes made a despondent noise, like we were all doomed or something.

"Then, I'm coming, too!" Lili declared, "Of course, you'll be paying for this later!"

She said the last line at Hermes. I could see the plan for Lili to blackmail Hermes for money or risk getting sold out to the Guild for running a scam.

"Welp, do I have a choice?" Welf said sarcastically, it was clear that he didn't want to be left out either.

"Then, that's that," I said, breaking my staring contest with Artemis to look literally anywhere else, "I'm not willing to let such a monstrous threat go unchecked, and they all are willing to go to. We accept your quest."

Artemis huffed before addressing everyone, "...Thank you, all of you. You are not in my Familia, but you will be my comrades for this journey. Let us take a vow…"

"Haaah?" I made an incredulous noise, about to protest how Artemis was implying that our given word so far wasn't enough for her to ensure we would do our part in this quest.

But Hermes had cut me off and pulled me to the side.

"What?" I whispered harshly, trying to contain my offense at Artemis' mocking of my integrity.

"I'm calling in my favor," Hermes said seriously, referring to the favor for passing along a message to Astraea-sama which resulted in her return to Orario.

That cooled me off real quick, "...What?"

He was cashing that in now? What the hell…?

"Please… Get along with her," Hermes said, all but begging me, "I'm not sure what's gotten you so riled up… but please. That's all I ask."

"You're using your favor just too–!" I whispered harshly, incredulous at his words before a thought stopped me.

Was I… really that upset that Artemis' personality didn't match up with my knowledge of the movie?

If so, Artemis didn't really deserve me taking out my frustrations on her…

…even if she was totally sexist.

I sighed, "Alright, alright. I was going to try and get along anyway."

"Could have fooled me…" Hermes deadpanned.

Anyway, Hermes won a fair amount of respect from me just now. Using his favor to help facilitate saving the world from Antares? That was relatively selfless of him to do. Just goes to show that despite being really scummy, he is serious about promoting heroism.

He's like Jiraiya from Naruto, if Jiraiya was also a manipulative ass, but without the whole abandoning his godson schtick. (Like a certain Gramps… The Bell Cranel in me isn't bitter or anything…)

"And keep your lewd comments to yourself," I whispered, "it certainly isn't helping!"

"Oh, I don't know about that~" Hermes said to me smugly, "Surely you're tempted~ Bedding another of the virginal goddesses would be quite the feat—"

I punched Hermes in the head. "Like the hell I have!"

Hermes had implied I had slept with Hestia, which was utterly wrong.

I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "And further! Like hell I'd pursue Artemis or anyone else as some kind of conquest to add to a tally or legend! That kind of stuff should only be done between two people who love or care for each other! Why the nerve—!"

I then finally realized my rant had gotten rather vocal and we weren't exactly somewhere private.

My ears burned as I slowly turned and saw everyone looking at me with various expressions from amused(Lili and Welf) to satisfied(Hestia) to approving(Ais and Lefiya) to Artemis who was blushing and refusing to meet my gaze.

I sharply turned to Hermes who looked very satisfied with himself.

Oh, that manipulative bastard. He knew I'd react like that!

I sent him a withering glare for this betrayal.

He looked unaffected.

I had to admit that Hermes won this little skirmish.

I faux-coughed into my hand, trying to cast away my embarrassment, and said, "Well, I'm sure everyone has things they need to prepare for the journey! I assume we need to leave almost immediately. I'll coordinate with Hermes-sama. Hestia-sama, I'm sure you can use this time to further catch up with Artemis-sama."

"S-sounds good," Hestia said, holding back laughter at my expense.

"Come on, Ais-san!" Lefiya said as the Loki Familia duo made to leave for their own preparations.

"Wait for us! And pack like you'll be gone for a week!" Hermes called out to the Loki Familia duo before then saying the second sentence for the rest of my party.

With that, we all dispersed. Lili stayed with Hestia and Artemis both as some amount of protection and because she kept most of her things at the Church anyway.

Time to go do some unsexy logistical work! YAY.

---

Other POV

Loki was just in her office, minding her own business, doing the unsexy work of planning a trip to go to the nearby port city of Melen to investigate that 2nd entrance to the Dungeon that Hermes had hypothesized to her children when they were all on Floor 18. Getting permission to move her children out in force wasn't easy to do without upsetting the Guild and the balance of powers within the city.

As it is, she would be lucky to get most of her girls to go with her. The reasoning behind bringing the girls was simple. Ports meant the sea. The sea meant beaches. Beaches meant SWIMSUITS.

Loki could imagine the glorious sights already.

So she was displeased when her fantasy was broken when Raul suddenly entered the room, "Uh, Loki-sama?"

"What is it!?" She snapped, "I was having some really amazing fanta– ideas!"

Loki's real thoughts had almost slipped out just then.

"Well, uh, apparently Ais-sama and Lefiya-chan had stopped by the gate and left this note for you…" Raul said, taking his Goddess' ire in stride, for he was too confused himself at why the duo had even bothered to write a note. Why not just come inside and tell Loki in person?

"A letter?! From Ais-tan!?" Loki was over the moon, completely misinterpreting the reason behind the letter, assuming it to be a love letter… somehow.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Loki whined like a child.

"Fine, fine!" Raul said with exasperation as he handed over the letter.

"Ais-tan~ Ais-tan~" Loki chanted like a love-struck teenager as she opened up the letter and froze.

Dear Loki,

Lefiya is going out of town to go kill some monsters outside the city with Bell Cranel. She'll be back in a week. I'm off on a secret mission that does not involve potato snacks in any way. Or a hot spring. With potato snacks. I am not. It's a secret mission. I'll return in a week.

Ais

Loki's eye twitched.

"...THAT DAMN RABBIT'S STEALING MY GIRLS!"

…it is said Loki's cry of frustration could be heard all across Orario. Which would be an exaggeration. It certainly, however, woke up everyone in the Twilight Mansion.

To Loki's great frustration, by the time she had read the letter, her children and their party had already left the city.

---

Main POV

A couple hours after meeting at Hestia's Church, we were all regrouped on top of the walls surrounding Orario.

Except from Hermes-sama we were all decked out in new gear.

I, who had helped coordinate supplies with Hermes, had gotten my gear from Hermes before everyone else. Hermes claimed the gear was to help in the quest against the kind of monsters we were going to face. But I could tell it was just a way to pay us (and most importantly Lili) off with expensive gear so we (Lili) wouldn't report him for fraud.

I was equipped with new black combat boots – made with more durable material than my previous pair. A pair of white pants and a white long sleeved shirt – both of which were woven with material and metal thread to make the clothing similar in strength to light armor. I had my usual waist and hip pouches equipped and stocked with knives and potions and other small bits and bobs.

Two new light vambraces with red magic stones embedded to help channel close-range combo attacks with Firebolt. My trusty rebuilt and upgraded hidden blade was equipped under my left arm. A new grey-silver light armor chest piece, stylized like the vambraces with red-tint metal. Finally, a white armor-weaved overcoat that was form-fitting in the top before tapering outwards – it reminded me of the damaged coat that Ryuu was wearing in Volume 14.

(It definitely DID NOT remind me of the kind of coats that Kirito from Sword Art Online!)

My weapons, of course, were: the Hestia Knife, the still functional kodachi's from Ryuu: Yin and Yang, and Orion's Arrow.

The logistics of keeping Orion's Arrow holstered involved using a strap meant for spears on two ends of the weapon similar to that of an assault… rifle…

Moving on.

My outfit was the only one substantially different from what my memory could recall. Hestia, Lili, and Welf's outfits looked rather familiar once they had changed – having taken turns using the nearby watch tower as we waited for Lefiya and Ais.

Hestia was wearing a white and blue dress that was similar to her usual aesthetic, apparently woven with more durable material as well. It was well designed for low temperatures and heat regulation in general – which was part of the reason why I think this was going to be Hestia's new mainstay outfit.

Lili had her old normal white and red robes replaced with ones using the same durable weave as well as a pink upper coat meant to help deal with low temperatures. To my surprise, however, she also had been given a spear meant for a Pallum's stature in mind. The metalwork was impressive. I guessed it was made with either steel or a steel and silver alloy.

Welf's garb was red and had an eastern aesthetic. There was a large metal shoulderguard on his right arm. Welf had his brand-new weapon to replace his previous weapon that was no longer strong enough for his new Level and a weird white dagger I hadn't seen before.

Hermes regaled us all about the craftsmanship, "What do you think? These outfits are custom made by the renowned travel specialist – me! Carefully selected materials allow them to be light yet flexible. Their fibers consist of a fair amount of rare metals… These are now 30% more durable than the past models! But it's only battle cloth, you say? Non-non… it can be as tough as any armor… but its suppleness never prevents the movements of its wearer! Who can prepare such quality clothes in only a few hours? You know who… me, Hermes!"

The others, and Welf especially however, were too busy gushing over their new clothes to pay Hermes much attention. While Welf's pride was hurt at having to wear gear not made by him, his approval of the craftsmanship was enough to distract him from angsting further.

"No one's listening…" Hermes said, dejected at the lack of attention.

"This is kinda embarrassing…" Lefiya said as she looked at her new outfit.

She was wearing a white, long-sleeved dress with light-blue accents. The top of the dress had a sort of collared cape that went to just below her shoulder-blades. She wore a pair of dark-grey gloves that contrasted with her white outfit – made out of a magic resistant material to help with potential magical blowback. The corset built into the dress tapered off into a sort of asymmetrical skirt.

Her lower half was wearing a more conventional knife-pleated skirt and white stockings that reached underneath her skirt; however, a duo of diamonds revealed a smidge of her thighs… for some reason. She had a pair of light blue heels that matched the blue outlines and accents of her dress; they had criss-crossing straps that went up her shin to help give her more support.

I'm not sure why Lefiya normally wears heels. I'd say I don't know why Hermes choose them, but I assume because he was already aware of Lefiya's preferences. Does Lefiya have a complex about her height? They seem like impractical footwear…

Oh well. This is probably a girl thing I won't understand.

In any case, Lefiya looks pretty cool and dapper despite her still effectively wearing a dress. I personally like it more than her usual attire, but that's just me and not really any of my business.

Hermes wasn't initially going to get Lefiya new gear, but when I mentioned how it would help her forget about Ais running off… and that she might throw a fit otherwise, he quickly caved.

I quickly looked over Artemis herself. Her outfit hadn't changed. Though she had come upon a sword, bow, and quiver of arrows at some point and now had it sheathed on her hip and back respectively.

…Where did she get them? She had no money pouch with her. Hermes and I certainly never purchased her any gear. There was no bullshit anime logic happening here. The fact she got these weapons made no immediate sense and had to have a reason. It was just… escaping me at the moment.

In any case, it was fitting that a Goddess of the Hunt, among other things, had a bow and arrow — I'll admit.

Artemis felt my gaze on her and looked back at me. She glared before turning away with a huff. Despite my own less than stellar impression of Artemis, I had to admit the petty behavior was a little cute.

Just a little.

"So," I called out to Hermes, "When's our ride showing up?"

"You know what we are doing up here, Bell-kun?" Hestia asked me.

"Yeah, it's–"

"Oh, here they come," Hermes said, cutting me off.

At that moment, four flying figures had suddenly appeared above us. It was four Furry Dragons – a more passively tempered dragon monster that had more fur than scales.

I won't pretend to understand how Monster Taming works. Considering monsters are supposed to have a strong desire to kill sentient life. But taming is a thing. And I could see the argument that raising them over multiple generations since birth could lead to domestication.

But, I also knew enough about monster taming to know that Taming only worked when the tamer was around to keep on intimidating the monster into submission. So all the crap that Ganehsa had spilled to me and Hermes earlier was just that, bullcrap.

I was 99% certain that these dragons were Xenos that aren't able to talk – or who are very good at keeping their mouths shut. Where Ganesha struck a deal of 'Hey help give people rides and we'll feed and take care of you and you get to see the surface! What a deal! I'm Ganesha!'

Ganesha is (essentially) blatantly taking advantage of EVERYONE'S ignorance about Monster Taming and how it works to help promote how Xenos in society is a good thing.

Clever, if demeaning for the Xenos in question.

"THAT'S…?!" Hestia exclaimed in shock. I'm not sure if it was from the dragons or the fact that one of the riders had jumped off the beast to land among us.

"...G-Ganesha?!" Hestia finished.

"Yes! I am Ganesha!" the God of the Masses declared, unphased by his impressive acrobatic feat.

The other Ganesha Familia members brought all of the dragons to land on the walls in a more… collected manners. The dragons were all equipped with saddles, reins, and all the gear and supplies that Hermes and I had looked over.

"So we are riding on this?" Hestia asked Hermes.

"Yep," Hermes confirmed, "I asked Ganesha for his help. It would take over a month for civilians to get to our destination on foot, but with these it will only take three days!"

I had known this much already, as I had escorted Hermes for our supply run and was there as he talked with Ganesha. So I had been able to immediately warn Hermes that Ais was more likely to kill the dragons on sight than anything else. After Hermes had bemoaned that it was our only viable means of travel, I was forced to suggest we find a way to ditch Ais.

Hermes was frustrated – he seemed to find the fact that Ais knew as much as she did to be burdensome. But he said he'd figure out how to lose her and he had briefly left me as I changed into my new gear to do just that. How he got her to leave and stay quiet, I don't know. But I strongly suspect it involves potato snacks.

It was then that one of the dragons blew hot air down into Lili's head and face, "No! Stop that, it tickles!" Lili cried out as the dragon started licking her face.

"Don't worry!" Ganesha laughed, "We've tamed these dragon's since birth! They'll listen to anyone!"

Nice cover story, Ganesha. Are you reading the sarcasm well enough?

"Hey!" Welf called out, "You don't have enough dragons for us."

"To be frank, circumstances wouldn't allow me to pull together more of them!" Ganesha informed us.

I guessed that the Guild, Ganesha, and Hermes were conspiring together to keep the nature of this Quest as hidden from others as possible considering the shortage of mounts and concern about Ais knowing too much.

"So, we'll need to ride two atop," Hermes concluded to everyone, "One lucky passenger gets a dragon to themselves, since they'll have more gear with them! And considering the sensibilities of elves, I'm sure you'll appreciate the extra space, Lefiya-chan!"

"I'm not that stingy, but I appreciate it all the same," Lefiya pouted, but still accepted flying by herself. It would seem Lefiya was also a victim of being ignorant of how monster taming worked; and was also deemed to be experienced enough in managing a mount to be allowed to fly by herself. Perhaps because she had spent time at the Educational District boat? Or something to that effect?

Frankly, since she's an anime protagonist herself, it makes sense how she is dense enough to fall for it. And I say that lovingly and as a joke.

Seriously though, I'm pretty confident that basically no one outside of Ganesha Familia and certain elements of Evilus know how Monster Taming works at all. Most people are simply too uninterested. Such is people's hatred of and cultural trauma against monsters – people simply couldn't imagine monsters anything more than as an enemy. They didn't bother trying to understand how taming works because they have no desire to understand monsters to begin with.

Truly, the plight of the Xenos will be an uphill challenge, to put it lightly…

"Two…" Hestia uttered, I could hear the gears in her mind plotting.

Welf bullied Lili into joining him so he could look over her new weapon.

"Bell-kun!" Hestia began to call out to me before Hermes put his arms over her shoulders.

"Sorry, Hestia-chan!" Hermes said, "But I need to borrow you for some boring Familia to Familia discussions!"

"N-n-no way!" Hestia cried out to the heavens at the unfairness of it all. I could tell that Hermes used those words to ensure that Hestia, who was trying to take her role as the Goddess of a Familia seriously, would have no choice but to be responsible and comply with his bullshit.

Wait… that only left…

I slowly looked over to Artemis, who had slowly looked back at me in tandem. I could see my own realization in the reflection of her green eyes. And her own realization and shock on her own face.

Artemis fell to her knees as she grabbed her head with both hands in frustration, "How could this happen?!"

"I can feel the love," I said sarcastically, silently reminding myself over and over to follow through on complying with Hermes' favor request.

Artemis glared at me for the sarcasm, but her expression faltered as I offered my hand for her to get back up. She looked at my hand warily before hesitantly accepting the gesture and letting me pull her up to her feet.

I had the impression that Artemis was trying to prove she wasn't biased against men by accepting my good manners.

Frankly, I considered her being silently polite a win.

In any case, everyone moved to saddle up. I silently yet politely offered my hand to help Artemis get on the dragon. Again, she looked at my hand warily before taking it in hers.

Her hand was surprisingly soft, and small, for a warrior such as herself. Such is the perfection of divinity, I suppose.

Before going up, Artemis warned me, "Touch me inappropriately, and I will toss you over the side."

Feeling cheeky, I chanted, "Hiraishin."

Artemis noticed the faint ruby, red glow of magic being used, "What was that?!"

"Space-time enchantment," I said in a volume only she could hear, "Your bracelet is now a marker I can teleport to."

Or it would be, if the Artemis in front of me was real. This was just a sliver of her soul. A projection. My spell didn't enchant anything.

It had failed. My (recently improved) 'sixth sense' associated with Hiraishin had revealed that much, at least.

Which was the point, it was evidence to me that my foreknowledge was correct.

"You damned perv–!" Artemis began to accuse me loudly before I cut her off.

"It's for your own protection," I said, keeping my observation to myself, "As wielder of the spear and your riding buddy, that makes me your bodyguard. Despite our differences, I'll do anything to ensure your safety. That's a promise."

Artemis lost her fire, her face confused, "H-huh?"

"We should get going," I said instead, "The sun's about to rise."

"R-right…" Artemis said, finally getting onto the dragon.

After she was situated, I went up into the seat behind her, putting my feet into the respective foot rests. Artemis, who apparently was skilled in riding mounts, had the reins.

Which was good, as I only had some middling experience riding extremely well trained horses. Helping guide a flying mount was very much outside of my skill set at the moment.

The seats were much like being on a motorcycle, in that Artemis was just a few centimeters from being in my lap. It didn't help that her clothes did little to hide her upper back or that her hair barely hid the nape of her neck…

What are these damned thoughts?! Bell! For fuck's sake! I can't stand these hormones! And since when did I have a neck fetish?!

Before I knew it, I could feel my stomach drop to my crotch as the dragon suddenly launched itself into the air. Just like that, we were off, moving at speeds that might as well be compared to a commercial jet.

Admittedly, that was an exaggeration, but the point is we were zooming across the sky. Just in time to watch the sun peak over the horizon.

My eyes flashed back to Artemis' back. I swear I am not developing a back fetish!

I SWEAR!

We had not only ascended to a high altitude, but we're moving decently fast. That is to say, it was going to be cold. I had natural resistance from my Falna combined with my gear, but I doubted that Artemis' clothes were designed for such conditions.

"Are you cold?" I asked her.

"What?" Artemis said, turning her head to me. Her eyes were harsh because of the interruption to our flying.

"Are you cold?" I repeated a little louder, "It's high up and we're moving fast!"

"I…" Artemis' expression faltered. I could tell it was partly from how I was suddenly being considerate of her. But I could also tell it wasn't the only reason, for there was sadness in her eyes that wouldn't have belonged if I was wholly ignorant.

If I wasn't sure before, I knew for certain now. Artemis may as well have confirmed for me that she really had been captured by Antares and all that was before me was just a projection of a portion of her soul that was within the spear. Because while her projection was strong enough to interact with the physical world, it wasn't really made of flesh. She had no need to eat nor did it seem that she felt coldness or heat.

It was a slap in the face that reminded me that this shade of Artemis deserves compassion like anyone else, no matter how much Tsun she was throwing my way. That this entity before me was proof of another's suffering – Artemis' will for a savior made incarnate.

So, without a word, I shrugged off my coat and put it around her shoulders.

"What are you–?!" Artemis huffed and complained.

"Just take it," I told her with my own gruff, tsundere attitude.

Artemis looked at me with utter bewilderment before shaking her head and focusing back forward on flying. She silently adjusted the arms of the coat around her own.

I always wanted to do that thing where a girl wears your clothes. Though, I admit, I would have rather it be someone besides Artemis. But beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

I could hear Hestia nearby scream, "Why can't that be me?!"

"Hestia! Calm down! You'll fall!" Hermes freaked out as he tried to prevent my Goddess from trying to jump over to our dragon.

Artemis and I both chuckled at Hestia's antics. Where we, of course, instantly lost all humor as soon as we realized we had agreed about something.

"Hermes-sama!" I could hear Lili shout over the howling winds, "Where's our destination?"

"Our destination is the Elsus Ruin!" Hermes called out for everyone to hear, "It's hidden in the great forest at the edge of the continent on the far side of Orario!'

Of the dragons in our pack, it was Hermes' that was at the front leading the way. Mine and Artemis' were following next, closely behind – which makes a sort of sense considering Artemis is the second person who knows the actual directions.

We flew over a small mountain range from where one of Orario's rivers originates. The sight of sunlight reflecting off of mountain snow was glorious.

That was how our journey began.

---

A few hours later, I wished I could take a nap. In case you didn't notice, none of us got any sleep last night. That wasn't to say I was some kind of snowflake that couldn't survive without a single night's sleep – it actually wasn't as hard as some people make it out to be.

It was just more that the flight quickly got boring. Sure, the view never disappointed. But I wasn't used to long periods of inactivity. My daily schedule had quickly become jam packed to where my only moments of relaxation were during my commutes from place to place and sleep.

I had the occasional day off, of course, so I wasn't a complete work-a-holic…

Hey, while I certainly wasn't this motivated to work during my time Before… Dungeon Diving does wonders for incentivizing hard work. Because not working hard enough can get you killed like an idiot.

The point was, Artemis wasn't exactly up to conversation at the moment. And so without stimulation, it was natural that my heart rate would go down and the urge to sleep would kick in.

Then again, the sight of Lefiya distracting herself with fantasies of herself and Ais was hilarious to watch.

Sleepiness was still winning out though.

Falling asleep on this dragon would be easier than one might think. The Furry Dragon flies like a dream. Super smooth. The only problem was the lack of back support in these saddles.

Though, as the person in back, it was simple enough for me to put my arms back to support my upper body that way.

I quickly realized, however, that if I had gotten uncomfortable sitting upright like that, then maybe Artemis was too? I don't really know how much her body is able to 'feel' and experience right now.

Nonetheless, I let the offer out, "If your back is bothering you, you can lean against me."

"Nice try," Artemis said back to me, her tone full of smug annoyance, "I see through you. You're trying to seduce me with your nice-guy persona. You should just give up now, because it isn't going to work!"

Not gonna lie, that stung a little. But I was mostly consumed by offense at the assumption that such a simple gesture was being offered for ulterior motives. Sure, some of the things I did weren't entirely done with altruism in mind alone. But I would say that I was at least honest in my desire to do good.

So without thinking much of it, I said, "But I didn't have any ulterior motive, I was just trying to be helpful."

"..." Artemis was silent. I could feel the confusion in the air.

It finally hit me that Artemis was likely perplexed at my honesty. That Artemis was a Goddess that could still detect lies. And that she was getting none from me.

It was easy for me to forget that Singularity reacted to my desire for personal privacy by interfering with the gods ability to detect lies.(2) It was easy, because I was against lying. Sure, I omitted things, but that was because too much honesty could also be a bad thing.

So, whenever I said something, I meant it. Though to different degrees than others. Artemis was really good at pulling my chain for some reason…

My eyes bugged out as I suddenly felt Artemis lean her back against my chest.

I… didn't actually think she would take me up on my offer, especially after her words to me.

"D-don't get the wrong idea," Artemis stuttered on the first word, "I'm just using you since my back hurts. You better not get any w-weird ideas!"

…

…

Holy shit Artemis really is a tsundere?!

I'm disappointed in myself that it took this long to notice. The me who watched so many anime is surely shaking his head in disappointment.

Still… it was hard to not react to an admittedly pretty girl leaning on me so closely.

I could feel my face light up as my body stiffened. I could hear my heart thumping in my chest.

"I said no weird thoughts!" Artemis hissed, causing me even more embarrassment as I realized she had noticed my increased heart rate.

"I'm not!" I deny, but even I wince at how unconvincing I sound.

Thankfully, Artemis doesn't move to punish me like your typical violent tsundere. Thank Hestia for small miracles.

Well… at least I'm not in danger of falling asleep.

Maybe I should think of something else? Before my body's hormones do something that Artemis will no longer forgive?

The main thing that came to mind was recent events. And the many questions I still had about the Floor 18 Incident.

After everyone had shared their stories, or a version of them anyway, it became clear to me that the Black Goliath hadn't spawned because of a release of Arcanum from Hestia nor Hermes. Which left the question of why it had spawned in the first place.

While there is the argument that the Dungeon had already been aggravated because of whatever craziness that Lefiya and Loki Familia had been up to deeper in the Dungeon already, I don't fully buy that hypothesis. But there isn't a lot of concrete evidence to work with.

There was the possibility that the Black Goliath spawning was tied to the spawning of the Juggernaut. I remember that the Monster Rex of Floor 27 had been spawned early because of Jura spawning the Juggernaut. But that had been because the Dungeon had lost control of the Juggernaut from Jura's magic item. Or something like that, if memory serves correctly (of course I remember all the info pertaining to Ryuu near-perfectly, how embarrassing…)

Did that mean that Jura and the Evilus Remnant was responsible for spawning it? Could Jura have somehow learned that Ryuu was in the Dungeon and accelerated his plans in order to get his revenge on Ryuu?

I believe his plan in canon was also executed (in part, anyway) rather quickly in response to Ryuu's presence in the Dungeon. And Floor 19 is much smaller than the surface area of what he would have destroyed on Floors 25-27, which would allow him to move even quicker in pulling off the plan.

If so, it was likely that Jura was already dead from being foolish enough to think he could control the Juggernaut. However, this theory has a hole in it since there wasn't any odd growth on the Juggernaut to suggest that Jura had used his magic item on it.

Perhaps Jura simply hadn't the opportunity to use it since Ryuu and I weren't distracting it in battle. But it still doesn't answer why the Black Goliath was spawned if the Dungeon had never lost control of the Juggernaut.

To put it simply, this hypothesized series of events isn't fitting. As far as I'm aware, the only ones who should know about how the Juggernaut is spawned is Ryuu, Jura, and Ouranos/Fels. And it goes without saying why Ryuu and the Guild have no interest in spawning the Juggernaut.

Which meant that if Jura wasn't responsible, there was a fourth party that was privy to the knowledge on how to summon it. The chances of someone accidently doing it seemed too mathematically improbable.

My only guess was the rest of the Evilus Remnant itself. Jura isn't hiding out by his lonesome in Knossos, and had accomplices in his plan to summon it. Perhaps Jura had to share knowledge with his Evilus buddies to continue to have safe refuge. Or one of Jura's more personal accomplices randomly decided to act early. Or that it all was just Jura performing a test run.

None of those reasons also answer why the Black Goliath had spawned. But it was the best that I had to work with. Investigating the matter when it's time to crack down on Dix and his Familia is as good a time as any to confirm or deny the Evilus Remnant's involvement.

These were the thoughts I distracted myself with, taking the occasional sip of my healing potion canteen, as we continued traveling to our destination.

---

We only made a few stops that day. Longer than thirty minutes but less than an hour to cook and eat a simple breakfast. Artemis, surprisingly, had asked me in concern why I had coughed several times while we had been flying. I played it off as the air being too dry that high for my throat. Yet, despite her being unable to sense any deception thanks to Singularity, Artemis didn't seem to buy my claim. Thankfully, she hadn't pushed me on the matter.

We stopped briefly again for a simple lunch mainly consisting of jerky and fruits. It wasn't until early evening that the dragons finally gave out and needed to rest for the night.

We landed in a small clearing in a forest, and quickly went about setting up camp for the night so we could get to cooking and resting properly.

Welf, Hermes, and I went about setting up the teepee tents. We had three of them, and the plan for sleeping arrangements was decided to be: Artemis and Hestia, Lili and Lefiya, and the boys respectively. As to where we got the poles needed for the tent, they came with collapsible ones, so no need to forage for straight trees dead or alive.

Lefiya and Lili quickly took it upon themselves to start getting food ready for dinner.

Hestia and Artemis were… bickering about my coat instead of performing their camply duties.

"...I can't believe you even accepted it from him!" I heard Hestia say as I lifted one of the poles through the tent flap.

"I-It was cold!" Artemis defended herself.

"Likely story!" Hestia shot back.

"It was!" Artemis insisted.

"That may be true, just remember! I'm not handing my child over to you, hear me?! I found him first!" Hestia declared.

"W-what are you even saying?!" Artemis stuttered, "I don't want him! Er… no offense."

"Good!" Hestia said, not taking any offense from Artemis' knee-jerk reaction. "I've got enough competition as it is! I know it's hard, but try not to fall in love with him!"

"A-are you even listening to yourself…" Artemis said with exasperation.

Even I was perplexed at how Hestia made it sound like falling in love (as in romantically) with me was just something guaranteed to happen given enough time.

Like, that was just ridiculous. Plain and simple.

"How long are you planning on wearing that anyway?" Hestia then asked.

"E-eh?!" Artemis made a sound of realization, "R-right!"

The boys and I had just finished putting up the last tent. Thankfully, they all pretended to not have heard anything as Artemis suddenly came over to me.

She all but tossed my coat at me, saying, "Here!" before storming off.

I turned to Welf and Hermes. Welf had an amused grin while Hermes had a knowing smirk.

"I must say, Bell-kun, you work fast," Hermes commented smugly.

"What are you even talking about?" I grumbled as I started slipping my new coat on myself. It was cold like it hadn't been worn by anyone. More proof that the Artemis with us was just a ghost.

"That's the most friendly I've seen Artemis be with a man in a few millennia," Hermes said to me, "At this rate, by the time tomorrow you'll be in each others' intimate embrace~"

I raised my fist threateningly, "Want to continue this line of thought?"

"I'll behave for now," Hermes chuckled as Welf shook his head.

I huffed, not believing Hermes for a second, "I'm gonna go help with the fire."

"Yes, Bell-kun!" Hermes cheered, "Ignite the fires of passion! Ack!"

Hermes yelped as I tossed a rock at him. I grumbled as he laughed at me as I stalked away.

I quickly went about doing one of my favorite outdoor activities. You know it! Making a campfire. Nothing crazy like last time, though, just a simple fire to cook our food. The climate around Orario is somewhat chilly this time of year, considering it's not too long since the beginning of winter. Even so, we can safely sleep without blankets even now that we are down at a relatively low altitude.

Orario must be relatively close to the equator to have such a mild early winter.

Soon enough, I had a nice stone fire circle. It was filled with baseball bat sized tree limbs as the base for a small log cabin that was filled with sticks, twigs, and dead straw/grass. With some additional firewood nearby to keep the fire going as soon as I started it for some time.

By then, Lefiya had returned with a bucket of water to keep nearby in case the fire somehow got out of hand as I asked her to. It's up to you to prevent forest fires!

"There you go!" Lefiya said as she set the pail down.

"Thank you very much!" I said to her gratefully.

"You are the fire expert," Lefiya teased me, though I could tell from her tone that she was feeling down and was trying to hide it.

"Sorry Ais-san had to ditch us," I told her, "It must be awkward being alone with a bunch of people from other Familias."

"Well, this is the third time you've dragged me into this kind of situation. So I'm kinda getting used to it at this point," Lefiya said with a huff, though from the twitching of the edge of her lips I got the feeling she appreciated my concern for her situation.

"I swear, next time you can be the one to drag me into a dangerous situation without my allies to support," I said back.

"Like I'd need help from a Familia like yours!" Lefiya snarked, the pride of her own Familia flaring up.

"Rub it in, why don't you…" I moaned back, but I wasn't really offended. We were basically engaging in banter at this point. The kind where you talk shit to your friends because they know you aren't actually being mean. Our rivalry-friendship was good enough to be like that. We have dragged each other into multiple dangerous fights after all. Getting closer was bound to happen.

It was then that a figure burst between the two of us.

"STOP FLIRTING!" Hestia yelled, her arms out wide.

"We were not!" I immediately insisted, feeling my cheeks turn pink like peaches.

"Bell-kun, Bell-kun," Hestia talked down to me like I was an ignorant child, "any one-on-one conversation between you and a girl while alone is going to result in some amount of flirting."

"What is this, some corollary to the Bell Cranel Effect or something?" I scoffed at her.

"Yes!" Hestia instantly replied.

"Who's seducing who?!"

"Who's seducing who?!"

Lefiya and Lili cried out in unison as the latter also chose that moment to return. Lili had another bucket of water for cooking and cleaning dinner with.

"Pervert," Artemis hissed disapprovingly as she also approached from the same direction as Hestia.

"No one!?" I attempted to defend myself, "I was doing no such thing! I'm innocent of all charges!"

"No, Bell-sama is definitely a pervert," Lili said seriously, though her shit-eating grin told an entirely different story. She was teasing me! Now?!

Hestia nodded, a fierce look on her face, "Definitely a pervert. I still can't believe what you did to Ryuu-kun."

I blushed completely red at the memory of that.

OH MY LORD I KISSED RYUU IN FRONT OF SO MANY PEOPLE!

Somehow, this fact hadn't really connected until now.

How mortifying!

Someone… Please kill me!

Lefiya blushed and gasped too, "That's right!"

"Bell-sama did what?" Lili asked, not having been there for that moment, and thus had no clue what we were talking about.

"I understand you needed a way to calm her down, but that was incredibly inappropriate!" Lefiya ranted to me, "To–!"

"Stop, stop, stop!" I cried out desperately, instinctively rubbing at my right wrist, "I can hardly be blamed for my decision! Our chances of dying were much higher than of living!"

I was doing my damndest to not let the actual incident in question be explained in any detail. Lili and Welf would never let me live it down!

And it was embarrassing to kiss and tell!

Lefiya yelled at me, "You dragged me into that fight knowing the odds!? I have nightmares about not te– escaping in time!"

I deflated at her words, "I… I'm so sorry, Lefiya. I… it had to be stopped. I wasn't going to let it kill anyone if I had anything to say about it. I dragged you and them into it to boost the chances of success…"

Unlike Lefiya, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into for that fight. I did my best to inform Lefiya and Chloe about the dangers, but I would agree that my words alone could never do the Juggernaut justice.

I willingly brought Lefiya into that fight knowing the risk, because I desperately wanted and needed her help for it. Simple as that. How that fight may affect Lefiya going forward is my fault and responsibility too.

Lefiya calmed down, looking regretful, "No… that isn't fair of me to blame you. I could have walked away at any moment…"

Needless to say, the mood had turned pretty dark. Even Artemis was looking at me with sympathy. She had this look like we were the same or something.

"I don't think I ever got to properly thank you for all the help you did for me that day," I said to her.

"I was just trying to repay my debt…" Lefiya insisted, referring to the Venethes and Evilus Remnant Encounter.

"You cashed that in as soon as you helped rescue Hestia," I pointed out, "The rest was you being brave and kind. Even now, you are going out of your way to help people."

Lefiya blushed, "I…"

"SEE!?" Hestia suddenly yelled, "He's flirting again!"

I felt my face light up… and I felt a little nauseous for some reason. Maybe my curse was acting up since I had yet to kill any monsters?

I had deliberately held off on running straight to the Dungeon to 'fill up' in order to get an idea on how my condition would start to deteriorate so that I wouldn't be surprised by the onset of negative effects in the future.

My chest was kind of burning now that I think about it…

Lefiya also looked embarrassed and sick. What a coincidence? Why would she be feeling ill? The world may never know.

Lefiya started to go on a rant about how I was just her rival and that she had a crush on someone else already and that Hestia was being gross.

I decided it was the perfect time to leave this awful conversation by silently escaping and went patrolling our camp for monsters.

I could feel Artemis' gaze on me the entire time as I made my excuses and bolted from the gathering.

---

I patrolled around the camp for a couple of hours. Monsters on the surface were weak compared to those in the Dungeon. Still strong enough and in great enough numbers to threaten villages, towns, and even some cities. But not enough to be a threat to any of our party, even to Lili — though that particular comparison is thankfully becoming less and less useful as Lili grows ever stronger.

Well, besides Hermes and Hestia anyway. Artemis held herself with a posture that suggested she still had the fighting skills I remember.

In any case, to my dismay, I didn't even encounter any monsters. If there were any in the area, they were giving us a wide berth.

I say dismay, because I had yet to get the opportunity to try and stock up on 'energy' with Accretion Disk. The only reason I didn't notice myself feeling weaker from the debuffs was because it had almost negated the boost I got from Leveling Up from 2 to 3.

Which was scary. It was like the opposite of Haruhime's magic spell, knocking me down a level rather than up one.

More mundanely, while I hadn't eaten dinner yet, my stomach felt like I hadn't eaten anything all day. The burning in my chest was getting worse too. And really painful…

I didn't even try to hide my coughing as a fit overcame me. Thankfully, there was no blood. This time.

I went ahead at that point and pulled out a honey orange potion, uncorked it, and got to chugging. Naaza had really come through with this updated version of the Nutrition Potion that didn't taste like poison. It cost twice as much, but the price was well worth it. It now tasted sweet like honey and provided tons of calories and vitamins and minerals. It should help a little in mitigating my symptoms until I can… get recharged.

Part of my symptoms was that my brain was 'tricked' into thinking I was hungry when I likely wasn't. This potion did well in convincing my brain that I had taken in food and nutrients, because it did.

While my curse ate at my strength and senses, it wasn't to the point I couldn't hear someone walking up on me.

I quickly adjusted my posture so it didn't look like I'd been bent over coughing my lungs out.

I'm surprised to see that it was Artemis who had come after me.

"Dinner is done," she informed me, "Are you coming?"

"Nah," I said, waving my large yet empty potion vial, "I can't eat after taking this supplement."

Well, I could, it just wouldn't be wise. My body had to process all that nutrients and calories in the potion, after all. Giving it more food on top of that wasn't advised for an hour or so.

"I see…" Artemis said, her eyes trailing from the vial in my hand to my lips in concern.

I suddenly felt really nervous and exposed, had she heard me coughing?

"Can I ask you something?" Artemis asked me, politely even.

"Uh, sure, go ahead," I told her, willing to get along if she was too.

"Can you tell me more? About the monster you were talking about before?" Artemis asked me.

"I… can do that…" I said hesitantly, rubbing my right wrist.

"I'm still not sure how it spawned, because it's only supposed to appear when substantial damage is done to the Dungeon…" I told Artemis, "And it was stronger than it should have been… the Juggernaut."

"Juggernaut…" Artemis echoed.

"Easily Level 5 speeds. Could cut through adventurers like a knife through butter. Anti-magic armor. The only weakness was its lack of durability — even a Level 2 like me at the time could inflict some damage," I said, before giving a short summary of the fight that went down.

"…if not for a clever trick and how clean the cut was, I'd be missing a hand," I said with a shudder. The only reason I hadn't had any nightmares was likely a result of Singularity.

"…You knew it was that dangerous and still faced it? Did you have a death wish?" Artemis asked me, her tone conveying more of a desire to understand than to ridicule.

"I have no death wish. I'd like to live a long life surrounded by kids and grandkids before I pass peacefully," I told her honestly, knowing in the back of my mind that dream could very well end up to just be a fantasy. "I just couldn't tolerate the idea of it rampaging across the Floor unchecked. Like I predicted, it found adventurers and began to slaughter them. I had to act."

Three members of Ogma Familia had died before we could intercept the Juggernaut. I should be content that the Juggernaut's kill count had been kept that low…

"I see," Artemis said, before whispering something to herself. Something about 'after all'.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Never you mind," Artemis said dismissively with a huff. "Instead, let us discuss the weapon on your back."

"The spear?" I said questioningly, surprised at the topic change.

"Indeed, I'm sure you have questions. I'm willing to answer them," Artemis said, her tsun showing in her tone. Despite that, she was surprisingly cooperative all of a sudden.

"Uh, okay… it's not just an ordinary magic weapon, is it?" I asked first as a starting point.

"It is greater than any magic weapon forged by mortal hands," Artemis boasted, "It is indestructible and magic conducive. It can even absorb magic for a period of time."

"So it's like an improved version of Mythril?" I clarified, trying to understand what Artemis meant.

"That's one way of looking at it," Artemis said, "The weapon is 'smart' enough to respond to the user's will when enchanting the a—spear."

"So if I enchanted it with my Firebolt spell, the magic would be absorbed and wouldn't detonate until it hit its target? That's what you mean by 'smart' right?" I asked.

"Exactly, though I don't know the specifics behind that spell," Artemis said.

Artemis pointed to the magic gem in the spear, "The weapon can produce immense forward force when thrown, though this has a cool down time of an hour or so. It has enough piercing power to kill the divine."

Artemis clarified that this gemstone would never break or run out of energy, it just needed time to recharge in correlation to the amount of energy used. So it could recharge in less than a minute, or perhaps even days depending on how it was used.

If I could perfect the reverse-Hiraishin technique that Hestia claims I pulled off, the mayhem I could cause… That said, I had yet been able to replicate the move that Hestia claimed I had done in the Juggernaut fight.

"You just said something really scary…" I said. I knew from memory that the spear was that strong in order to defeat Arcanum-boosted Antares. But it suddenly felt a lot different now that it was against my back.

But then a thought hit me, "...does this mean it could kill the Black Dragon?"

"Well, I'd say it would be able to pierce the Dragon more likely than not," Artemis said, not trying to say any absolutes, "Even so, it matters little if the wielder is unable to use it in the first place."

"I see," I said, understanding what Artemis was trying to say. Sure, the Spear could probably do serious damage to even the One Eyed Black Dragon, but it didn't matter if you didn't even have the skills and power to get the chance to even use it against the dragon. It was like giving an end-game item to a Level 1 player in a video game and expecting them to somehow solo the end-game boss; sure the weapon is strong enough for the job, but the boss will just kill you before you can use it because you personally don't have the power or speed to back it up.

All in all, this weapon was seriously broken. Then again, it is literally a weapon from Tenkai that has no business on Genkai. Hypothetically, I wouldn't be surprised if the weapon's strength would drop if Artemis returns to Tenkai.

…when, she returns. I morbidly reminded myself. I was already too late…

No. I couldn't give up yet. I might be able to come up with some bullshit to save both Artemis and the world. I'll think about it more tonight, I already know I'm not going to be able to get any rest with all the anxiety hormones in my body now.

"Orion?" Artemis called to me, noticing my somber expression and lack of focus.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly, "I got lost in thought."

"You looked sad," she observed.

"Yeah," I said, before grinning mischievously, "I was heartbroken that the First Corollary of the Bell Cranel Effect wasn't in effect."

"Huh?" Artemis said in confusion before the conversation from before finally clicked. Her face lit up red with embarrassment and anger, "You pervert! Like I'd ever fall in love with you! Womanizer! Hentai!"

I just laughed at her reaction, now that I knew she was a tsundere I at least had a frame of reference to work around. Time to hit her with the classic – honesty.

"Sorry, sorry. Bad joke. I'd be content with making just one woman happy, I swear. But I can't help but be greedy and try to make sure all of my friends and loved ones are safe and happy. Even you."

"Eh?" Artemis paused, likely stunned since she detected no lies from me, "Me?"

"We may not agree or have started off on the right foot, but I'm serious when I say that I'll do everything in my power to save you," I said, looking her dead in the eye, "I'm going to save you and the world. That's a promise."

Artemis' eyes widened, "Y-you… You're an idiot. Who do you think you are?! Since when did I ask to be saved, huh!?"

I took her sudden aggression without flinching. Her eyes gave her intentions away. Hope and Despair. She was aggressively pushing me away because I made an impossible promise. She…

"You're very kind," I said to her.

"You're hopeless!" Artemis huffed, before turning and stomping off.

I guess she realized I was too stubborn and was retreating. Or that I was too dumb to waste her breathe on.

As she left me alone again, I clenched my fists so hard my right hand started to bleed.

Like hell I was going to sacrifice the One for the World without a fight.

Not when this dumb Spear is too stupid to reject my slothful self. I foolishly assumed the movie wasn't canon, wasn't going to happen. Maybe if I had done something, things wouldn't have gotten to this point. I knew how the movie went, what happened before, and what was at stake.

My failure to act put Artemis, her Familia, and the others who faced Antares in their current circumstances.

That was the real reason I had been so 'riled' up. Sure, Artemis' initial attitude contributed, but I was really mad at myself for being too complacent. I just assumed the events of the movie wouldn't happen, and since I didn't do anything – since I effectively just followed along with canon – Artemis was in a situation even worse than death.

I knew about Antares. I could have tried to send a warning about it. But I had done nothing. Not even thinking about the events of the movie. How slothful of me…

I resolved to do my best in the present and to begin actions to save Haruhime as soon as I got back to Orario. No matter what happens out here, I won't make the same mistake again. I can't. Not anymore.

That was the cross I bore at that moment, as the fate of the world rested on my shoulders. A stupid boy with sins crawling down his back – wielding a holy spear like a fraud.(3)

---

About an hour later, my patrolling vigil of the camp was interrupted by another visitor.

"Your diligence is making everyone feel guilty for relaxing, you know," Welf chided me playfully.

"Er, sorry about that," I said, not really expecting the line of conversation, "I just had a lot on my mind, and this was a good way to be productive."

"I see," Welf said simply. It was clear that Welf as silently trying to replace me as the one on patrol so I could get a break. That and the others might be worried about me not eating dinner or something.

Still, I was looking for anything to distract me for even just a moment. If I could clear my head, I'm sure I could figure out someone to make this entire situation a win instead of just a pyrrhic victory.

Thankfully, the combination of dragons and Welf provided me with inspiration.

"Hey, Welf…" I said to him conspiratorially, "Have you ever heard of hot air balloons before…?"

Welf raised an eyebrow in confusion before smirking, his inner craftsman was surely liking where this was going.

"Lay it on me!"(4)

Eager that Welf was willing to humor my efforts to distract myself, I went into great detail about how air balloons work…

Should I somehow coincidently end up in a War Game of the Castle Siege variety, a war balloon would be somewhat useful.

---

I couldn't sleep.

I wasn't sandwiched between the others, that was Welf's problem – I got the edge since I was easier to step over if need be for the others to get to the exit.

Something about the impending end of the world really does wonders for all those anxiety hormones I tell you.

I was idealistic, but I understood reality enough to know how much my thoughts of trying to save Artemis risked everyone and everything. Too much hesitation, and Antares would have just enough time to fire Artemis' Arrow at Orario. Assuming the planet didnt crack in two… The Dungeon would once again be free to unleash hoards of monsters against us surface-dwellers. Not to mention all those in the city who would die. Or the ramifications for the global economy as Orario was destroyed and the world descended into chaos without a source of Magic Stones.

It truly is the eve of the Apocalypse. If I failed, the Age of the Gods would end and an Age of Chaos would take its place.

All because a fool doesn't want to let go of a ghost.

But a spark of hope meant that the fool had to try and return the ghost back to its host.

I remember enough to know that Artemis' body is inside of Antares' Magic Stone. She was 'devoured' by the monster. But what that means exactly is what makes the difference between a chance and futility.

Scenario 1: Artemis' body is separate from the Magic Stone. This means her body is trapped and her Arcanum is simply being absorbed and reused as it draws in power from her 'cocoon'. Which means that if Artemis' body is completely removed from inside of Antares' Magic Stone, then it loses its access to Arcanum and we win.

Scenario 2: Artemis' body is now fundamentally part of Antares and its Magic Stone. Calling Artemis' body and the Magic Stone one and the same would be apt. Even if the stone is shattered, if Artemis' body is still functional then so is Antares. They are fundamentally and inseparably linked. So if Artemis' body is still intact, Antares will just heal itself and we lose.

We lose in Scenario 1 if we take too long to retrieve Artemis or otherwise fail to completely separate her from Antares in time. We lose in Scenario 2 if we even try to save Artemis in the first place.

Game Theory says that the best route is to assume that Scenario 2 is the one to operate on. Because killing Artemis right away in both Scenarios results in a guaranteed win. Choosing to operate on Scenario 1 is fundamentally the most illogical and least pragmatic choice to make.

It's one thing to be forced to kill because some asshole is actively trying to hurt others and can't be stopped with words. But to sacrifice Artemis like a lamb on the altar…

It's distasteful.

But it's also like the only way to truly win was for things to have never gotten to his point in the first place. The chance for anything besides a pyrrhic victory would have required action long before now.

Could have I even done anything? I didn't know the way to the Elsus Ruins. Bell barely knew the way to Orario and it was a hop, skip, and a jump away. The length and logistics of the journey… and without a Falna… convincing people who see me as a stranger to believe me about some legendary sealed monster…

Or to leave Orario sometime in the last month or so? Good luck getting back inside with reasoning like mine that would just sound like suspicious bullshit as for why I was leaving and coming back. Report to the Guild? They'd ask where I got the intel and wouldn't believe me.

Combined with the fact I didn't even think the movie would happen… There is really nothing I could do.

Is there nothing I can do?

Is it selfish to not want to lose?

To lose Artemis, an innocent. Or to lose the moral fight by sacrificing her?

I didn't want to lose.

I didn't want to lose…

…

I guess I really wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

---

My body must have betrayed me at some point, because I definitely fell asleep at some point. But my rest was fitful and barely refreshed me at all. I probably felt worse now than I did before I woke up.

I could have come up with a dozen reasons to bullshit everyone into ignoring why I obviously looked like shit. I just laughed off everyone's concerns and blamed it for sleeping on a rock. Which, to be fair, was true – there had been a rather pointy rock under my back last night. But that was also misleading. With my Level 3 (or 2 at this point) Vitality, I easily could sleep with a mundane rock poking my back like it was a fluffy pillow.

Vitality is weird.

We soon enough ate a quick breakfast, packed, and we're back in the air. Artemis was again wearing my coat as we flew.

Artemis had taught me how to ride a mount yesterday as we flew, and was now encouraging me to put my lessons into practice today. Which wasn't hard because these dragons were pretty smart – I was pretty convinced they were Xenos after all at this point.

Artemis suddenly spoke to me, "What has you so worked up?"

"Worked up?" I said back, "What makes you say that?"

"Hestia wasn't convinced you just had a rough night's sleep," Artemis said to me.

I resolved to complain to Hestia to stop snitching on me to her bestie.

"That rock was really pointy," I said, digging my heels into the metaphorical ground.

"Stubborn boy," Artemis chided me, "Trying to look cool in front of a woman. You're impressing no one with your pitiful expression. Where is the man that led that elf into battle?"

"It's easy to lay down my own life," I said to her, "I was in control then because I was in just as much risk as everyone else. And I was willing to sacrifice myself for my ideals."

"...What makes this any different?" Artemis asked me slowly, trying to hide the truth.

"You know," I said to her. For I knew that I was not the one being sacrificed this time, but her.

Artemis said nothing for a long time.

I'm not sure if it was five or fifty minutes later, she sighed and said, "I know that Hermes didn't tell you anything. I don't understand how you know anything, but I guess it doesn't matter."

"...My coat was cold. When you gave it back to me," I told her, "You're not Artemis. Not all of her."

"Correct," Artemis confirmed, "I'm the portion of her soul she left in the spear."

"Your personality didn't like I was somehow worthy of the spear," I analyzed, "But you–"

"Knew the truth," Artemis cut me off, "Yes. It wasn't exactly logical, I know. But I did relent and give you Orion. Because you are worthy."

"How? Why me?" I asked. I didn't understand.

"You wanted to save your friends," Artemis said, "You wanted to save them and everyone, with honesty in your heart. Your compassion even extends to a ghost like myself. The longer you held Orion, the less I could deny it."

"It's still reading my soul?" I asked, figuring that's how the enchantment when it was trapped in crystal had worked.

"Always, how else is it to know if the person trying to wield it is worthy?" Artemis answered with a rhetorical question.

Artemis' Ghost had just casually revealed that she had been reading my mind via the spear the whole time. I'm not sure how I should feel about the invasion of privacy. Though I'm not surprised that pure, unbounded Arcanum beat out Singularity.

She then said, "You have too much kindness in your heart, Or–Bell. I'm more of a Sentient Weapon than Goddess. There is nothing to be gained from crying over me and my fate."

I understand Artemis' shift in temperament now. 'She' is like an Artificial Intelligence. She's mimicking personality traits and such in an attempt to feel 'real'. At first, she only had the original Artemis and her base directives to base herself off of. But after connecting to me, her Shade was able to incorporate aspects of my personality, like being occasionally michevious. 'She' may have even taken personality traits from Lefiya too.

Artemis' Ghost continued to speak while I was thinking, "The rest of Artemis is being held in this dimension unnaturally. Painfully. Even from this distance I can feel our suffering."

"I'm sorry," I said. The words held multiple meanings.

Artemis, who could see into me, understood. For she said, "There was nothing you could do. I don't understand your visions, but you couldn't have averted Artemis' fate. Your own intuition has already told you why."(5)

"So what? I'm just supposed to give up?" I asked her harshly.

"Forget that promise you made to me yesterday," Artemis said to me, "If anything, you made a promise to a Spear and not a Goddess. No one will blame you for breaking such a meaningless pact."

"I will," I retorted.

"Idiot," Artemis said, though not unkindly.

"Yeah," I replied.

Artemis chuckled before leaning back into me, "Is this what it's like to be loved unconditionally? Maybe Lante-chan was right after all…"

Artemis was not referring to romantic love, but to an all-encompassing love. Agape, not Eros.

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion, not knowing who Artemis was talking about.

"Nothing. Do as you will, Bell. If anyone is fast enough to waste time attempting to save her before doing what must be done, it is you," Artemis said to me, relenting for the moment.

I'm not sure if her words were meant to mock or encourage me. They did manage to do the latter. Because she was right. Thanks to the speed of Hiraishin I could theoretically eke out enough time to try multiple options in handling the coming storm. I could aim to save Artemis and quickly pivot to focusing on saving the World by using Hiraishin to close the distance – to buy a bit more time.

In the meantime, I would spend as much time with Artemis as possible. Because no matter what happens, we would be splitting our separate ways in just a few days. Alive or dead.

Coming to terms with that reality, was another matter entirely.

---

Our lunch and 'relief' break had been brief again as we ate foods requiring no cooking. Hermes gave Artemis and I trouble as we had landed.

I had gotten off first, and offered my hand to help Artemis down. To which she took my hand with no hesitation.

Which Hermes managed to see as he proclaimed, "What is this?! To have reached that point so quickly! Bell-sama, please, teach me your ways!"

"What ways, you Super Pervert!?" Artemis snapped at the other God, pulling her hand out of mine like it was hot like a dragon's fire.

Hestia, meanwhile, looked like she wanted to strangle someone before she sighed in defeat. She mumbled something like, "...it was a matter of time…"

Oi, it's not like that!

I swear!

Anyway. We quickly ate before getting back into the air for the afternoon. We had been making good time, apparently, and should make it to our destination around this time tomorrow.

Welf had been frantically whipping up blueprints for a War Balloon based on my descriptions of how air balloons work and how the air balloon from Avatar the Last Airbender was designed. The mad-lad craftsman was obsessed and a credit to his Goddess and Familia.

Lili seemed annoyed that her back had been turned into an impromptu table. A more mundane example of how actions echo consequences into unforeseen results. My sympathies, Lili.

Artemis and I, meanwhile, had ended up taking the rear of the pack in case someone veered away from the convoy. Since Artemis knew where we were going, we'd be able to catch up to a straggler and help them course correct.

We had been riding in silence for some time, when I suddenly saw Artemis tilt her head down sharply.

She then commanded, "Descend!"

"Sorry?" I said, making sure I heard her correctly over the wind.

"Hurry! Descend!" Artemis said again, turning to face me as she spoke.

"Roger!" I said, bringing the Furry Dragon into a rapid descent. We leveled out a dozen meters above the ground, and were flying in a field adjacent to a densely packed forest. Despite this, and thanks to our proximity, I could barely make out what Artemis had seen. A mother and daughter pair were running from a pack of Scorpion monsters I hadn't seen in person before.

Black Scorpions. It looked like there were easily 40 of them. Their speed wasn't impressive, but that could have just been because of the foliage. My intuition was screaming that each of them was approximately Level 2 in strength – which for a monster dwelling on the surface was insane.

Artemis at this point had pulled out her bow and arrows and started giving the monsters hell. Despite only being within 'human' physical limitations, Artemis was killing each monster with a single shot. How? She was striking the monsters' magic stones at just the right angle to pierce their armor. Her accuracy was beyond perfect. I wouldn't be surprised if she fired an arrow in the wrong direction and she still would somehow land a direct, critical hit.

"Amazing…" I couldn't help but appreciate the impressive sight.

Alas, Artemis wasn't killing them fast enough. The pack was getting closer and closer to their prey.

Artemis recognized this too and said, "It's not over yet! Get behind them!"

"Roger!" I said as the pair of humans on the ground broke out of the treeline, Black Scorpions hot on their tail.

"Firebolt!" I chanted as we made a pass over the horde. A barrage of six shots flew from my hand, easily wiping out 10 of their number.

Artemis continued to fire another few arrows as I circled the Furry Dragon around for another pass.

It was then that I noticed that the child had tripped and the mother had stopped with her child. The Black Scorpions would be on them in a few seconds.

I knew immediately that Firebolt was no good, the civvies would get caught in the blast. So I whipped the reins, aiming to land the Furry Dragon right in front of the duo to serve as a shield.

Artemis, on the other hand, chose that moment to completely jump off of our ride.

"Artemis!" I yelled as the dragon plunked itself down in front of the two humans. Thankfully, my Xenos ride seemed to agree with the idea of using themself as a shield for innocent civilians. What a good lad.

The ghost of Artemis didn't hesitate to draw her sword and begin engaging the Black Scorpions. It was clear that Artemis' martial combat was light years better than mine.

She effortlessly cut off one of their stingers before plunging her sword down right into another monster's core. She then backflipped over another monster to prevent herself from getting encircled.

I, at this point, had jumped off our mount and readied Orion's Spear. If there was any time to use its magic power, this was the time! Fighting this many scorpions with civilians behind me was not my idea of a good time.

I readied the spear like a javelin, willing the weapon to defeat my foes and to protect Artemis and the innocent. I could see hieroglyphics light up as the weapon responded to my will right before I let the weapon fly right through the middle of the pack.

There was an explosion of dust and debris as the force of the spear ripped apart the ground below it. The cacophony of monsters' shrills and clanking of mandibles was soon replaced by silence. For when the smoke cleared, there was a long trail beat into the ground below where the spear had flown that was filled with 30 or so magic stones.

Artemis, who was still standing, but her arm was shaking had sighed as she put away her short sword.

"Artemis-sama! Are you alright?" I asked as I ran over to her. She had been close to the trench, so she could have been hit by debris or something.

"Yeah…" Artemis confirmed her immediate injuries were nonexistent.

I then turned to the duo we rescued. The mother bowed her head in thanks, "Thank you so much!"

"Glad to help," I said with a smile. I then turned to where the Arrow of Orion was still stuck into the ground as it landed. I reached my arm out and willed it to return to me…

Only for me to end up flashing to the mark on the holy spear, not the other way around.

I sighed to myself as I picked up the spear and strapped it over my shoulder. It would seem that I wasn't going to be able to bullshit new techniques outside of combat. What a classic protagonist move of me, I suppose.

I somehow teleported Ryuu to me mid-combat, but suddenly can't replicate it? Very annoying. That said, it's not like the moves I bullshitted mid-combat are exempted from needing training and refinement.

I bet I can make Vesta more Mind efficient without creating as much recoil damage. And I can probably make Argo Vesta more powerful and more efficient if I give it more effort. I just need to work on them at… some point.

But that was for another time. Now, we needed to wrap up the current little incident.

I looked back to Artemis, and said, "I know this is rich coming from me, but try to be less reckless, Artemis-sama."

"Haaah?" Artemis said, her eyes furrowed, "You're right, it is rich coming from an idiot like yourself."

Despite her frown, I could see Artemis' lips twitching. Trying to not smile.

I rolled my eyes at her antics, a bemused smile on my lips, "I get that you're stronger in combat than Hermes-sama and Hestia-sama, but you… need to conserve your strength."

"And like you wouldn't have jumped in my place?" Artemis retorted.

I winced, she had me pegged. And not in that way, you pervs. "You win this time."

"What do you mean? I'm always right!" Artemis said smugly.

"Right, right…" I said sarcastically.

"You…" Artemis hissed, noticing my sass.

Out of my periphery, I noticed the woman looking at us with apprehension. Like she was intruding on a lovers quarrel. The daughter was just plain confused.

"Mama, why are Big Brother and Big Sister fighting?" The girl asked her mother.

"Ah, some people express their love for each other in roundabout ways…" The mother tried explaining the complicated concept to a child.

"I don't get it," the girl said, "They should just kis–"

"Ah!" the mother covered her child's mouth. Likely because both Artemis and I's cheeks were beat-red as the child implied we were lovers. The woman then said, "Um… sorry about that, kids right?"

"Yeah, right…" Artemis said, looking like she was trying to contain her reaction.

"F-for the record, we aren't like that…" I said, trying to hold back my embarrassment at getting caught quarreling with Artemis in front of a stranger.

Artemis proceeded to kick my ankle.

"Ow! Why?!" I complained.

She just huffed and looked away.

WHAT IS THAT REACTION.

Tsunderes are harder to handle than I thought. Someone, please send help.

"Artemis! Bell-kun!" Hestia called out to us as she ran ahead of the others who had noticed our absence and fell back to our location. "Are you two alright?"

"Yeah," Artemis answered back.

Hestia came up to Artemis and said, "I know you are strong, but don't push yourself too hard."

"Your child essentially told me the same thing a few moments ago," Artemis said in amusement.

"Like Goddess, like child?" I said with a chuckle, rephrasing a certain idiom. Hestia sure seemed to like it considering how her face beamed.

Anyway, with our safety out of the way, we all took the opportunity to gather some intel.

Lili silently distracted the daughter with our rides as we talked with the mother.

"I don't know how to thank you… I truly appreciate the help," The woman thanked us again.

"Don't worry about it," I assured her. It wouldn't be too crazy to think that the woman was assuming that we would want a reward or something. Which we were not.

"So," Welf said, "do you know anything about those monsters?"

Apparently everyone else had managed to get a good look before I took them out with the Arrow of Orion's special move.

"Nothing…" the woman said, "We'd heard nearby villages had been attacked, and then, out of the blue ours was too…"

"I've never seen monsters like that…" Welf commented.

"They're not native to Orario, for sure," Lefiya said definitively, which said something as she had been as far down as Floor 59. Only Zeus and Hera Familias have ventured further into the Dungeon than that.

"I'm sorry that I can't be of more help, but we honestly have no idea…" the woman said.

"Don't worry," I told the woman, "I have a feeling those monsters are related to our quest. We'll take care of the problem at the source."

"What a relief…" The woman said.

"Hey, Bell-kun," Hermes then said to me, pulling me slightly to the side as Welf inquired more with the woman. "Using that spear is courting danger. Try to avoid using it."

"Uh, sure…" I said back, playing dumb to the Arrow's true nature. It was clear that Hermes hadn't expected for Artemis to already spill the beans about the weapon's power.

"I also don't want 'her' to notice…" Hermes said ominously, though my intuition said he was referring to Hestia. Since she would be able to recognize the true nature of the Arrow as a fellow deity.

"What?" I said, playing dumb, but Hermes ignored me.

I deserve an Oscar! Tricking the trickster!

---

An hour passed as we figured out how to best help the woman and her child get to safety. Hermes thankfully had some maps of the area and so was able to help give the woman instructions to get to the nearest settlement that was further away from the ruins.

Since that, by definition, was the opposite direction of our destination we could not escort them to safety. Instead, we decided to give them some food and spare knives before sending them on their way.

By that point, the sun was starting to set, so there wasn't much point in trying to fly further. Hermes put it succinctly, "Well, the sun's going down. Let's call it a day, stay here for tonight, and leave in the morning."

"What about food?" Lefiya asked the group.

It's not like we gave them all our food or anything – as we brought enough with us for the return trip as well. But it would help to forage for some supplements to ensure we were still well supplied.

Which was when Bell's memories helpfully reminded me of a useful fact about a local fruit. "...I know just the thing to supplement our dinner!"

"Eh?" various members of our party made questioning noises.

I pointed to the fruit on a nearby tree, "Those Masalanuts turn into a stew-like treat when cooked over the fire."

"Oh, clever, Bell-kun," Hermes the traveler extraordinaire praised 'my' knowledge.

Lefiya's ears even twitched in interest. Maybe she was familiar with the treat as well and was a fan?

"Let's get set up!" I said, ushering everyone to move along as I went to go grab us some weird fruit.

---

We found ourselves seated around another small campfire about half an hour later. Our tents were set up and we just finished cooking a batch of the fruits over the fire. Use some sticks to pull the fruit out, cut them in half to form a bowl, then enjoy the melted pulp. An excellent source of vitamins and starch.

It was even more enjoyable now that my curse wasn't acting up anymore. I wonder how long those thirty or so Black Scorpions would put that curse into the green? Hopefully for a bit since they all seemed to be in the Level 2 range.

I'll at least get to finally see how efficient or inefficient that Accretion Disk is in terms of using energy in comparison to how I had been before it all appeared on my Falna. Time would only tell.

In the meantime, I once again get to enjoy the feeling of being healthy.

In any case, I was receiving a lot of praise for my contribution to our dinner.

"Well done, Bell," Welf said.

"You surprise me, Bell-sama," Lili chimed in, teasingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed.

"Nothing!" Lili said, blowing me a raspberry.

Lefiya seemed lost in thought as she pondered the fruit in question.

"You are wiser than I thought, Or–Bell," Artemis said with a smirk.

In clockwise order, we were sitting: Me, Hestia, Artemis, Lefiya, Hermes, Welf, and Lili.

"It's thanks to Gramps," I said, referring to Zeus, "He taught me all kinds of things before coming to Orario…"

I did remember all those years Bell spent with him. And let's just say that my feelings on the God were bitter considering how instead of explaining anything, he chose to fake his death just so he could run from Hera or something.

"Like being a playboy to build a harem," Hestia teased me.

I blushed, "Y-you – that's a misunderstanding! I mean, he did try to do that, but I'm not–!"

"So, your degeneracy is a learned behavior, I see," Artemis said harshly, "At least it isn't a result of learning things from this one." She said, referring to Hermes.

Hermes laughed hollowly, "Good times…"

Yeah, apparently he and Zeus were good buddies. I wonder if Hermes is sending Zeus status updates about me? Makes you wonder how Zeus is reacting since he is the only one who would know that 'I' am 'different'.

Lefiya looked like she was just glad to not be the center of attention again as the conversation felt the need to bring up everything 'harem' related.

"I'm innocent, I swear…" I insisted, knowing the futility of it all – that no one would believe me. I wasn't even trying to settle down with anyone! Loving Ryuu, for example, didn't have to mean the same as starting a relationship with her (though, of course, I wanted one).

Speaking of, she's still fresh from her life getting flipped as we slew the Juggernaut and her reunited with Astraea-sama. I'm not surprised she took the chance to skip town or something to help clear her head and get some space from me.

I do normally see and interact with her on a daily basis. Being away from me would allow her to make less biased decisions involving me in the future. Or so I assure myself.

My eyes almost crossed as a spoon filled with melted pulp was put in front of my face.

I followed the arm back to Artemis who had a derisive grin, "Is this what you want, playboy? A girl offering to feed you? To say 'aah'?"

Hestia looked gobsmacked out of the corner of my eye.

Her mouth dropped as I lunged forward and took the spoon in my mouth without hesitation, Artemis let go of her spoon in shock.

"Yesh," I mumbled as I swallowed and took the spoon out of my mouth, "Delicious."

"Scandalous…" Lefiya whispered, her face lighting up.

"Oho~" Hermes was enjoying the show. I could hear Welf chuckling in amusement as well.

"You… you…" Artemis hissed, her face red with embarrassment and rage from her little prank being completely negated like that, "Idiot! Shameless swine!"

"That's a new one for me," I deadpanned, nonchalantly offering her my unused spoon to replace the one I snagged from her. She just glared at me. I shrugged in response.

How clever. Artemis was making the excuse she couldn't eat because she had no utensil and refused to use one that belonged to a 'shameless swine'. Very devious.

I ignored Artemis' glare and Hestia's bewildered expression as we ate the rest of dinner. No one bothered to patrol since we were camped in that clearing where visibility was pretty good. Any monsters trying to get the drop on us would be spotted a half kilometer away.

"So…" Welf asked after we finished eating, "What were those monsters anyways?"

"I know of scorpion-like monsters, but I've never seen anything like that," Lili said.

"Me too…" Lefiya said. And considering that she had gone down to the Deep Floors, that was saying something. A fact important enough that it warrants being mentioned twice.

"We know that they're attacking villages around here, but that's all we know…" Hestia said, summarizing everyone's knowledge aside from Hermes, Artemis, and I.

"It all started with a confirmation of abnormal monster numbers…" Hermes began to reveal, "Many Familias were assigned to locate the source of the problem, but all of them disappeared without a trace. All of them seemed to have gone to this particular sealed heritage site at the edge of the continent, the Ruin of Elsus."

"Sealed?" Lefiya asked, "What was it sealing?"

"A monster that rotted the land, tainted the sea, and decayed the forest," Hermes answered, "It took life out of every living thing."

"In ancient times," Artemis said quietly, somberly, "the monster was sealed away by the Great Spirits. They called it… Antares…"

I knew a fair amount about astronomy from Before. I knew it because my Grandpa loved sitting down with me as a child to watch documentaries about everything involving outer space. He shared with me a love of space that stuck with me, even after he passed from lung cancer.

It's why I knew that there were suspicions that there was a Black Hole in the center of Orion's Nebula (how fitting, huh?). Or that Antares was the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation.

"It was regaining power," Artemis continued, "gradually and quietly, in the deepest depths of the ruin… After a long rest, it finally broke the seal."

"The seal's broken…" Welf muttered.

"Then…" Lili began to say, her tone showing that she was starting to realize the situation.

"You guessed it," Hermes said, "Orario began to take the case seriously. And my Familia was asked to take on this Quest. We'll be meeting up with them tomorrow. I had met with Artemis who was also on her way. Together, we went back to Orario to recruit more adventurers."

Considering Hermes was Hermes, it was hard to tell if he was telling the exact truth here or if he merely rearranged the exact series of events.

"Wait a moment," Lili cut in, "Why us? Why not a stronger Familia like Loki Familia?"

"I'm curious too," Lefiya chimed in, a representative from said Familia.

"That doesn't matter," Artemis revealed, "Antares is no longer something that can be defeated with conventional forces. We cannot defeat Antares without the spear. And the spear has chosen… you, Or–Bell…"

There was a long moment of silence as everyone processed that information.

Hermes, the charismatic god he was, quickly tried lifting the mood, "No need to worry! Everything's going to work out just fine with the legendary spear! We have a long day ahead. Let's get some sleep."

Nobody could nor wanted to challenge that excuse to disperse and put negative thoughts behind us. Or I assume so. Because we all quickly went about cleaning up before turning in for the night.

---

Well, it wasn't actually that clear-cut. It's not like everyone decided to tuck in for the night right away. Hestia and Artemis were the only ones to actually head immediately to bed. Welf had gone off to the side and was resharpening our weapons.

Well, not Orion's Arrow. Despite how it should have been dinged or less sharp from use, the weapon was still in perfect condition. The spear had durability akin to or greater than weapons with the Durandal attribute. And, like the Hestia Knife, its sharpness seemed to be tied to something more mystical.

Lefiya was reading a heavy book with a magical lamp outside her and Lili's tent. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was preemptively doing homework of all things.

Riveria, you monster. Assigning your pupil homework while on a business trip? That's messed up.

Hermes had vanished, likely to lurk around like the sneaky bastard he is.

This left Lili and I. Something the Pallum girl would take a sort of advantage of as she came over and asked me, "Lili would like your help, Bell-sama, if that is alright?"

"Sure thing," I said, a little curious as to what Lili wanted.

"Lili could use some assistance getting used to this new weapon…" Lili said, gesturing over to the spear that Hermes had effectively gifted her. It had a healthy ratio between functionality and aesthetics.

"I guess you had only really used wooden bokken up to now," I said, seeing the point Lili was making. If we got into a situation where even Lili needed to fight, she would be hard pressed to use a weapon she hadn't even used once.

My own javelin throw was only as effective as it was thanks to magical bullshit, for example.

"Exactly," Lili said to me.

"Let me grab my spear," I said to her, "We can get some practice in together."

"Perfect!" Lili said, perking up, "Lili always seems to improve a lot when Bell-sama is with Lili!"

Oho? Was this part of how Inspiring Leader is affected by distance? How peculiar.

Lili and I both grabbed our respective spears and went over to the side of the camp. We held our weapons backwards, since we didn't have a healer or a ton of potions to handle potential injuries. This was hardly the best time to accidentally stab each other with spears.

We took stances and started circling each other. Using her back hand, Lili had the end of her spear start to rotate in an oval-like shape. It was a classic spear technique to help obscure the angle her strike would come from.

"Ha!" Lili exclaimed, finally lunging for an attack.

Not only did I have the senses of a Level 3, but had senses used to Hiraishin with experience against a demon that is the Juggernaut. I easily saw Lili's attack coming, lightly parried it to the side, before lunging forward to bonk Lili on the head.

"It hurts!" Lili exclaimed, more out of instinct than actual pain as she covered the faux-welt on her head as she pouted at me.

"You had pretty good speed and power with that strike," I said, noting those things as I had parried her weapon, "It would have been a lot better if we weren't using the wrong ends of our spears."

"Lili has to get even stronger and faster," she said, psyching herself up.

"You seem really determined," I noted, "I hope you don't think I'm trying to pressure you into becoming some kind of front-line fighter or something."

"Lili knows it is nothing like that," she assured me, "Lili had once given up on progressing as an… as a fighter, and it was very bitter for Lili to have no talent for this sort of thing. Lili still doesn't exactly understand why Lili is having an easier time lately…"

"Hahaha…" I chuckled sheepishly. I had a good idea behind that… and don't think I failed to notice how Lili avoided calling herself an adventurer before correcting herself and saying 'fighter'.

"But, that said, Lili has something worth fighting for now," she said to me, "Or rather, Lili doesn't want to lose everything again. The things Lili cares about. Lili doesn't want to burden Bell-sama with all of Lili's problems."

"Lili, you know I don't–" I started to say before she interrupted me.

"Lili knows that Bell-sama would always gladly help Lili. That is not the point Lili is trying to make," she informed me, "Lili would be a bad… friend, if Lili expected Bell-sama to give and give without Lili giving something back. Lili wants to be someone Bell-sama can count on as an equal."

"You know I don't look down on you for being a Supporter," I said to her, "You do a lot for me and the party."

Lili does a lot of little things in the 'background' that helped facilitate things. Again, logistics is important but unsexy. She also has a lot of practical knowledge that someone new to the city like myself would be ignorant of. Just to name a few things she handles for us.

"Lili knows. Bell-sama is missing Lili's point," she explained, looking frustrated that I was misunderstanding her.

Lili sighed. I guess she couldn't put together the words to explain herself differently at the moment. She said to me, "Lili wants to get stronger for Lili's sake."

Ah, Lili is saying that she is using my kindness to get stronger so that should she ever need to split from the party she would be able to defend herself better and be able to carry more things. Or, in short, Lili was doing everything in her own self-interest. That makes sense.

I noticed that Lili was looking at me with an expression that said something like, 'Bell-sama is an idiot'.

Eh? Was I wrong? Lili's face is all but screaming that my look of understanding at her last sentence was incorrect but she was letting me assume I was right.

You know, Lili is really smart. I may be able to notice a lot of her little machinations as they happen, but who knows how many little tricks and moments of brilliance that have flown over my head?

"Lili is ready to go again," Lili said, having readied her spear.

"R-right!" I said, focusing back on reality and resuming our training.

---

Lili POV

Bell-sama is an idiot.

Is it really so hard for Bell-sama to think that Lili can have selfless reasons for her actions? At least as far as selfless reasons can be as they involve Bell-sama?

Maybe that's the reason. That Lili wanting to help support and maybe even save Bell-sama someday is just another way of fulfilling Lili's own self interest.

Lili hasn't spoken much with the elf Ryuu. But Lili feels like she can empathize with the conundrums the elven adventurer likely dealt with as an apostle of Justice.

Lili had to resist the urge to snort. Lili the thief, empathizing with an adventurer from a Familia focused on Justice? What a joke.

No, what is more likely is that Bell-sama is an idiot who doesn't quite understand just how much Lili loves him for being so kind and supportive to Lili.

What an idiot…

---

Other POV

"What did you just say?! Why aren't we allowed outside the city?!" Loki yelled at her Familia's commander, "I don't get it. Explain it to me!"

"The Guild gave us a strict order to stay inside Orario," Finn said at his desk, hands interlocked.

"But we gotta rescue Lefiya-chan! And what about our plans to head to the port!" Loki bemoaned. Why didn't anyone understand that investigating the lead on the potential second entrance to the Dungeon was of the highest priority! Damn Hermes for placing such juicy intel in front of her!

That and she needed to go save Lefiya-chan! Itty-Bitty's Rabbit was going to seduce Lefiya and do lovey-dovey stuff! UNACCEPTABLE!

And more seriously, Loki was concerned about Lefiya spending more time around the boy. Both because of how people act weird around him and because Loki has infinitesimally small concerns that Bell had connections to the Evilus Remnant.

"I'm sure Bell Cranel and his cohort are treating Lefiya well," Finn said assuredly, "There's little else we can do but postpone that trip for the time being…"

Did that mean that Lefiya didn't have a punishment waiting for her since she ran off without consulting anyone? Of course not! Lefiya was in trouble without a doubt!

Finn was actually concerned himself that she had done so. It was rather out of character. Nevermind the fact that Ais had also managed to not only leave the city before the lockdown, but also to relax of all things.

Ais Wallenstein? Taking a vacation? Where she doesn't go and kill monsters anyway? What? How? Why is it that Bell Cranel has achieved something that Riveria and him had failed to accomplish in almost a decade?

"I'm worried about that Rabbit treating her too well!" Loki countered, "This doesn't make any sense! What was the Guild thinking?! This is bullshit!"

Finn just laughed nervously. Nothing ever got dull in the Loki Familia, that's for sure…

Result of Today's Battle: Loki Loses.

---

"What."

It would be a surreal sight if anyone was observing a particular room at the Hostess of Fertility annex. For there were two identical looking individuals that tend to go by the name of 'Syr' — or at least do so while wearing this form.

The first speaker was Syr as Freya. The other Syr as Hörn was kneeling before her Goddess, having just finished giving her report.

Hörn was not nervous at all in the face of her Goddess' displeasure. While Freya still had a smile on her face, and eyes closed, it was readily apparent that Freya was most diseased to put it mildly.

Hörn summarized her report, saying, "Bell Cranel appointed Naaza of Miach Familia as his his primary physician. And reported that he may have started developing symptoms from a disease that plagues his maternal bloodline."

"And?" Freya demanded, her voice strained.

"Initial investigations have suggested that Alfia The Silent and Meteria The Ebullient both endured sickness from an early age, perhaps since birth," Hörn revealed.

Hörn continued, saying, "The Silent lived until she fell in battle during the Great Feud at the age of 24. The Ebullient hasn't been seen since the exile of Hera Familia. But, considering how Bell Cranel was apparently raised by his grandfather, it is to be assumed that The Ebullient died in childbirth; she would have been about 16 to 18 depending on her date of birth and the exact date of delivery."

Freya did not miss the fact that Hörn had added the lifespans of Bell's relatives in her report. Yet it still warmed her heart that Hörn made sure to include such information. Information that gave Freya hope for the future.

"Bell has only recently started to develop symptoms, where his relatives had to endure them since their infancy," Freya noted, coming to an important conclusion, "Which means that he could easily have another two or three decades without major intervention. The immune systems of infants are not well equipped in you mortals for such a plague. It is likely that suffering from the curse at a young age did permanent damage to their bodies. For Bell to only start the symptoms now with an older body with more developed defense mechanisms…"

"Indeed," Hörn agreed with Freya's realization, "With existing medicines and healing techniques, it is likely that Bell Cranel can expect another three decades of life ahead of him. Assuming he undergoes treatment, of course."

It's not like Bell could just do nothing, after all. Just because Alfia lived to 24 meant that Bell could just coast for that long or something. Alfia had only lived so long due to regular treatments and such.

The point being, as long as Bell worked to manage his condition, he could likely live for two to three decades more. For an adventurer, living to your 30s and 40s was the exception and not the norm.

The average life expectancy of adventurers in general was 45, but that was due to long-lived races like High Elves skewing the statistics. The average human adventurer lifespan was roughly 24 years.

All of this was to say that while Freya was rightly concerned, she wasn't filled with anxiety or despair. Sure, twenty to thirty years was but a blink of the eye when seen with the perceptions of a timeless Goddess. However, Freya was reasonable enough to know that the children of man could accomplish a great many things in such a short period of time.

Put another way, with enough time and resources, Freya held out hope that medical advancements would advance within that time period. Enough to perhaps cure if not better treat Bell's condition.

Freya already had ideas on how to spur the various factions in Orario into furthering medical advancements for such a cause. Freya Familia did have large cash reserves, after all.

Freya couldn't help but think it was fitting that Ryuu had chosen a Development Ability aimed at healing; likely on a subconscious level, knowing that Bell would continue to get into trouble and thus hurt.

So Freya couldn't help but chuckle at the idle thought that Ryuu might be the one to save him like a heroine right out of a fairy tale.

"Freya-sama?" Hörn asked cautiously, confused at her Goddess' amusement.

"Continue to have our people investigate the matter," Freya ordered, "I want to know everything about the treatment plans used by The Silent and The Ebullient. Start up a foundation for granting money to pharmacies for accomplishing significant medical advancements. Issue a larger reward for respiratory cures."

"Your will be done!" Hörn obeyed fervently, not even perturbed at how her load of paperwork would increase even more than before.

Freya turned away as Hörn left to go about executing her will. She glanced at the window for a moment, before turning to her wardrobe and opening it.

Freya muttered, "...I wonder what I should wear for our first date. Maybe I should go shopping…"

Only a Goddess like Freya, who was used to winning all the time, could be so relaxed and confident in her eventual success.

---

Ais' head was empty.

Why?

She was surrounded by hot mineral water while eating the 2nd best fried potato snacks she's ever had.

No one could beat Jagamaru-kun though, a shame.

White rabbits with red eyes circled in Ais' vision as the hot water made her dizzy.

"So fluffy…" Ais said in a daze.

Bell and Hermes had accidently come up with the best way to neutralize one of Loki Familia's greatest fighters. If only it wouldn't hurt the Hermes Familia's finances so hard…

---

Main POV

The next day had been fairly routine. We got up, packed up, ate quickly, and got going. We flew without much interruption through to lunch and into the afternoon and early evening.

I was also doing fine health-wise. Either those Black Scorpions provide a lot of 'energy' or Accretion Disk does make the whole process significantly more efficient. Maybe both.

It wouldn't be until I finally 'ran out of juice' that I would know for sure how efficient it was. Perhaps I used more fuel in combat? Or when using Mind? Much like how the body uses more calories as it, well, does stuff. It requires more observation to be certain.

Anyway, it was around the early evening hours that things began to change. The forest below us turned from vibrant green to an unnatural purple.

"The forest's… dead…" I deduced, perturbed by the sight. It was unnatural for so much woodland to just… die like that. We must be close.

"Antares' handiwork," Artemis confirmed to me, "And that's the Ruin of Elsus."

Her final words referring to a structure in the distance. It was made of stone, and reminded me of Hindu-like temples, though I'm sure people from those cultures wouldn't appreciate my ignorant observation.

Artemis suddenly winced in pain, clutching at her chest.

"Artemis-sama!" I called out to her in worry.

"Brace yourselves…" Artemis choked out.

My instincts suddenly flared, that there was immense danger coming down from above!

I looked up, seeing an incoming barrage of countless beams of white energy.

"EVASIVE ACTIONS!" I yelled out at the top of my lungs so everyone heard me. I then covered Artemis with my body as I struggled to maneuver our ride through the barrage. It was like a sudden downpour of hurricane rain had fallen on us, but instead of harmless rain it was deadly lasers!

The barrage was only a few seconds, yet it was enough to force our dragons to crash to the surface – my whole body shook from the impact and I had almost fallen over Artemis completely.

I coughed as the soot from our crash threatened to get in my lungs. "Artemis-sama, are you okay?" I finally asked.

"I'm fine," Artemis grunted out.

"I'm going to check on the others," I said, before jumping off our ride.

"Everyone?!" I called out loudly, "Hestia-sama! Everyone!"

"We made it somehow!" Hestia called back to me, waving her arm to help show her where she and Hermes were.

"Are you two okay?!" Lili called out from nearby, allowing me to easily find her, Welf, and Lefiya who crashed nearby.

"Lili! Did you get hurt?" I asked as I came over to them.

"Bell-sama! We're fine, but our mount…" Lili answered. Indeed, her dragon had a nasty wound on the outside of one of its wings.

Poor fella, or madam. That doesn't look pleasant at all…

"So, what was that light?" Welf asked.

"I think it was me… no," Artemis said as she came up behind me where everyone had gathered, "it was the spear it wanted."

The hairs on the back of my neck lifted up. We were being watched from all directions!

The clicking of mandibles and claws rang out as Black Scorpions suddenly appeared in the brush around our crash site.

"Those monsters…" Hestia said in recognition as she backed up to Hermes and Artemis.

"It's no good…" Hermes said as Lili, Welf, Lefiya, and I backed up to better shield the deities among us.

"Those monsters are… the same as the ones we saw before…" Welf commented.

"No, they are different shapes and sizes," Lili said, noticing that each one of the scorpions had at least minor differences between them.

I grit my teeth, preparing myself for battle, only to pause as I heard a familiar song.

"In the sky of a now distant forest. Infinite stars scattered in the endless night sky. Respond to my foolish voice, give me now divine protection of starfire. Give the mercy of light to the one that abandoned you. Come, wandering wind, the wandering traveler. Cross the sky and run through the wilderness, run faster than anything else. Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy."

Sure enough, bursting from the tops of nearby trees, Ryuu burst out high above the clearing and finished her song, "Luminous Wind!"

A barrage of wind and starlight spheres rained down on the encirclement of Black Scorpions. It was the strongest I'd ever seen Ryuu's attack spell. The fact she had gotten her Stats Updated and had Leveled Up was obviously apparent.

"The elf from before!" Lefiya called out in recognition.

"Ryuu…" I whispered in awe at the figure who gracefully landed before us.

She was wearing different adventuring clothes, but despite not seeing these clothes in-person before I instantly recognized them.

Ryuu was wearing the battle cloth armor from Astraea Record. A dark blue undersuit and garter with a white layer over her torso and chest with gold and lilac accents. She had dark blue sleeved, fingerless gloves that went to her biceps; there they met a golden cuff with a white cloth tassel with gold highlights. The arm cuffs also connected to a white cape with a red inner layer. Her forearms were protected by greaves colored white with gold accents.

Her neck had a white collar with a golden cross that had a small Ruby in its center. She had white boots with gold accents that went up to her thighs, hiding whatever material her garter connected to (and leaving an amazing thigh gap).

She was beautiful… like a heroine right out of a fairy tale…

"Ah…" I uttered realizing my nose was bleeding rapidly and uncontrollably.

"E-eh? Bell?" Ryuu stammered, looking at me in embarrassment.

"Bell-kun!" Hestia called out to me in genuine concern at the sudden bleeding on my end.

"Honestly…" Artemis sighed in knowing exasperation.

My ears felt burning hot. This can't be happening!

"I-it! T-this is just from the sudden altitude shift! Air pressure! R-really!" I stammered out insistently. (6)

"LIES!" Hestia immediately declared, all but betraying me.

I dabbed the blood away with a handkerchief before glancing at Ryuu, pleading, "Y-you believe me right?"

Ryuu smiled sweetly, "… Of course, Bell."

SHE DOESN'T BELIEVE.

Ah, could Antares just kill me now? That might be preferable over this shame.

"Anyway…" Ryuu uttered, her expression schooling to something more serious, "I'd… say I didn't expect to see you in a place like this… but that would be a lie."

I gladly accepted the change in conversation and grinned sheepishly, "With Great Power…"

Ryuu smiled wistfully, "...Comes Great Responsibility."

I smiled then winced as I conveyed some bad news, "...Mama Mia is pissed about you using so many of your stockpile of days off though."

Ryuu comically paled for a moment before recovering, "...Just because I hadn't used them before, doesn't mean I'm not entitled to them."

"You're not the one who got an earful about bringing you back and with no half-elves…" I complained, remembering Mia's words to me when I stopped by with Hermes to explain things.

Ryuu's eyes widened, her face and ears turning red before she sharply broke eye contact.

"Half-elves…" Lefiya uttered, embarrassment lining her tone. "How lewd…!"

I could feel Hestia, Lili, and Artemis staring daggers into my back.

"So, I assume you didn't come all this way for a vacation," I said to her, essentially asking why she was out here. I pointedly ignored all the looks as I knew I would regret addressing them.

Ryuu looked back at me hesitantly, "...I was asked by Andromeda to accompany her for this quest."

I had the feeling that wasn't the only reason why Ryuu had skipped town. Call it arrogant, but I figure that part of it was to get some distance from me so she can take a gander at everything in her life without consideration or bias.

Ryuu continued, gesturing to a nearby group of adventurers that just showed up, "They're also here with me."

Sure enough, Asfi was there leading a small squad of presumably more Hermes Familia members.

Asfi looked pissed, "Hermes-sama…!"

Hermes winced, making a sound of fear, "H-hey Asfi! Good to see ya!"

"You are such a blockhead!" Asfi growled as she stomped up to Hermes, "Sending me all the way out here after everything that happened in the Dungeon! Sending damn near the entire Familia in this damned ruin!"

"R-relax, Asfi…" Hermes pleaded, "I needed to find the chosen hero for the spear…"

"That doesn't justify your actions!" Asfi retorted. Indeed, Asfi looked like she hadn't gotten decent sleep in the last few days.

"Please let that one go for Hermes, Asfi," Artemis said on Hermes' behalf.

"Ah, Artemis-sama," Asfi said in recognition. Then her eyes found mine, "...Bell Cranel again…"

Should I feel offended?

Asfi then sighed and said, "So you were the one who pulled out the spear. I was hoping for someone from a stronger Familia."

Ouch.

"Yeah, you're not the first to have that sentiment," I said, giving Artemis the side-eye, who looked away with a huff. I then said, "Lefiya almost got it out, to her credit…"

Lefiya made a sound of startled embarrassment.

"The Thousand Elf…" Asfi said, "Well. It is somewhat reassuring to have help from the Loki Familia."

"Hehe…" Lefiya chuckled sheepishly, enjoying the praise.

"So," Hermes cut in, more serious now, "What's the status, Asfi?"

"It's getting progressively worse," Asfi answered, "Decay in the forest is spreading and the monsters' numbers are only rising. All villages in this area have been attacked and razed."

Oi, Asfi just said something really sad and scary very casually at the end there…

"And how about the strike plans?" Hermes asked.

"All our plans ended in failure before the gates," Asfi confirmed.

"I see," Hermes said with a sigh.

"The few remaining minor spirits in the area have also vanished," Ryuu suddenly chimed in to my shock.

"You can communicate with the spirits?" I asked her, taken aback. This was an aspect of Ryuu I didn't know about… or remember. It completely threw me off. (7)

"Let's just say it's been a long time since they've decided I was worth talking to…" Ryuu said mysteriously. Is she implying that the minor spirits stopped talking to her as she went on her crusade against Evilus?

"Putting aside the spirit thing that is shocking on its own…" Lefiya said, looking at Ryuu with reverence, "What's this about a gate?"

"Yes," Ryuu confirmed, "it's blocking the only path to Antares."

"And you can't open it?" Lefiya asked in shock, surprised that so many strong adventurers were unable to breach the defenses.

"We can't…" Ryuu confirmed with a sigh. She seemed frustrated by that failure, which is understandable.

"Let's continue this conversation back at camp," Asfi said, "Some of our members will guide your mounts to the site. You'll all have to make due with a short hike."

Everyone agreed to follow Asfi's orders and we soon started our short march to the Hermes Familia encampment. It was located further away from the ruins, outside of the decay.

Ryuu explained that they had been on their way back from an attempt to recon the ruins in force, only to be stopped at the gate. They had to desperately flee before they were overwhelmed by the sheer horde of Black Scorpions. Ryuu described that there were literally hundreds of the damned things.

Scary.

We started walking, keeping our eyes and ears out for monsters. As we started getting close to the change in the treeline, I noticed that Hestia had pulled Artemis aside. I made to turn and join them, the threat of monsters was real. But I was stopped by Hermes.

"Bell-kun," he said, putting his arm around my shoulders, "I'm sure the ladies have a lot to talk about. Let's give them some space."

"But, their safety–" I interjected.

"Artemis can protect your Goddess long enough for us to help," Hermes assured me, gesturing to the lights coming from the camp just a skip away.

"Fine…" I grumbled reluctantly, leaving the two Goddess to their conversation.

---

Other POV

"That light…" Hestia began to demand, "You have to explain that to me! Why was that here?!"

Hestia couldn't understand why that was here. That attack. It was blatantly Arcanum!

"..." Artemis said nothing. There was no point in explaining something they both recognized.

Hestia clenched her fists, "You are like Artemis. But you aren't the Artemis I know. I thought you were at first, but you warmed up to Bell-kun so quickly… We're supposed to be unchanging… Who are you?"

Artemis smiled sadly, "...It's not 'who', but rather 'what'..."

Atermis' Ghost explained everything.

---

Main POV

We entered the Hermes Familia camp in moments. The tents were very similar to the ones used by the Loki Familia, just with banners displaying Hermes' signature hat and wings. I presume this tent design was the standard for Familias due to weight to capacity ratios or something.

Magic stone lamps were hung from tents and tree branches. Healthy ones, for the time being. Weapons were gathered on racks, with stashes of arrows, and other supplies. Our dragon mounts joined those used by the Hermes Familia in enjoying a meal of fruits and meats.

We, of course, had also passed a patrol of adventurers that was guarding the perimeter of the camp.

"We have set an operating base here," Asfi regaled to us, "It is fine for now, but I'm not sure how much time we have left until the decay starts here, too."

Asfi led us to a spare tent that had been prepared for us.

"Aren't you guys exhausted from the long journey?" A purple haired Pallum asked outside of our tent, "There's a spring ahead you can bathe in."

"Really?!" Lili said in excitement, "That'd be amazing! I've been sweating all over."

My spine tingled with apprehension. I had a feeling that nothing good would come from such a spring…

My ears twitched as I noticed Artemis and Hestia make their way into camp, the latter trailing behind the former.

"Bell-kun!" Hermes grabbed my attention again. I had to look around to find him though, as he was hiding in a nearby push with his head stuck out.

If my life really had anime physics, I don't doubt that I would be sweatdropping right now. I could already tell where this was going.

Hermes smiled perversely, "This is the beginning of a holy war!"

I sighed, realizing it was up to me to crush his stupid hopes and dreams.

---

I reluctantly followed to where Hermes had, with scarily quick efficiency, gathered most of the men in the camp – including Welf and myself – who were kneeling before him. The girls had probably just gotten into the springs as he began to speak.

"Today, you will become a legend!" Hermes said dramatically, arm outstretched. "Listen closely! Up ahead is a paradise filled with beautiful ladies! Lili-chan, Asfi, and many others are cleaning off their exhaustion with nothing covering their bodies!"

…why did this asshole insist on mentioning Lili's name every time he wanted to perv?

I resolved to beat the crap out of Hermes as soon as he was done getting his ass kicked by all the girls in the spring.

"And Artemis…!" Hermes continued his speech, "No one has ever seen the renowned Goddess of Purity without her clothes. Even the Gods haven't! My dream was shattered once! But my soul's telling me to never give up!"

Everyone was enraptured by Hermes' words. So no one noticed when I finished folding a scientifically perfect parchment airplane and yeeted it in the general direction of the springs.

Yes. I have easily betrayed all the men here by notifying the girls of their intentions. I have no regrets.

"And now, I have friends," Hermes continued, not noticing my actions, "Friends with the same dream and goal. That's you guys. There will be challenges we must conquer. But know this, when we overcome the hardships, our names will be remembered!"

Hermes raised his fist to the sky, "Stand up, children! To become true heroes!"

The gathering of men cheered loudly. To my disappointment, Welf had also joined in with the war cry.

I sighed, "I'm surrounded by idiots…"

"Tenkai!" Hermes declared, "bear witness to our plight! And bless the fearless warriors with a victorious future! FOLLOW ME!"

With that, the entire group minus myself charged forward for the springs.

I sighed as I stood there. Hermes had already described his 'plan' for me before getting here. Basically, their charge was a distraction to draw out the female guards protecting the spring. Which would mean that Artemis, who was bathing alone, would be unguarded and vulnerable.

The bastard knew that with the threat of monsters nearby, I'd have no choice but to seek Artemis out to protect her. And my note would be far too late to prevent his plan from working. It would, however, give Asfi enough time to personally be prepared for their arrival.

As is, I proceeded onward towards the spring Artemis should be using. I really didn't want to temp fate and see what would happen if Artemis' Ghost was attacked by monsters.

---

Pushing through the foliage, it took me a few moments to reach my destination. The sound of rippling water nearby was enough to let me know I had found my target.

"Artemis-sama!" I called out, "Are you decent! Hermes-sama is being a Super Pervert and drew the guards away!"

"Why am I not surprised!" Artemis called back, sounding angry but not at me in particular.

A few moments passed. The ruffling of water and clothes ensured.

She then said, "Enter!"

Taking that to mean she was in fact decent, I left from behind a tree and into the clearing of the spring. Only to halt as I realized that Artemis was very much not decent. While I hadn't seen her front, I still got a good luck at her backside.

"W-what the–!?" I stammered my head snapping downwards, "Artemis-sama!?"

"I'm just a projection of the spear," Artemis said, matter-of-factly, "There's nothing to really be embarrassed about."

"...I don't understand," I said, completely lost. We had already established that her personality had been imprinted into the weapon. The man-hating Artemis had no reason to break millenia of hiding her body away from others.

"I'm constantly reading your soul, despite those protections of yours," Artemis said and based on the shifting sounds of water she had turned to face me. "I can see past my own misconceptions and see the truth. That you acknowledge my beauty and my privacy. But I don't reciprocate as a part of my nature, constantly judging your very being. Consider this recompense."

"This is ridiculous," I said, my face lighting up in a whirlwind of emotions. Damn these teenage hormones.

"Indeed," Artemis said, walking towards me, "I can tell that if I was whole, I'd be shooting you through with my arrow."

"You're saying something really scary but not unexpected…" I uttered, completely lost as to what the fuck was going on.

She went past me, before coming back beside me, shoving a mug into my hands.

"What is this?" I asked in confusion.

"Alcohol," Artemis said, like it was something completely normal for a Goddess of Purity to be handing out.

"...Eh?"

"I'm conflicted with myself," Artemis said – she was close enough that I couldn't help but notice that her breasts were conveniently being covered by her wet hair.

Artemis continued, "Part of me desperately wants to acknowledge you. To be fair. A little wants me to strike you down for eliciting these feelings in me. This is the compromise."

"Compromise?" I asked dumbly.

"I know that you haven't drunk before," Artemis said factually, "Combined with your young age and that Liaris Freese hasn't had the opportunity to work its magic… this ale will get you so drunk you won't remember seeing me vulnerable like this.

Ah… I understand now. The Arrow wanted to show me vulnerability in compensation for it reading my soul all the time. Artemis didn't like how it went about it, and so prepared this drink to erase my memory of the whole thing.

You know what, I can respect the hustle.

Put another way, Artemis' Ghost was such an amalgamation of different desires and personality traits that her behavior was inconsistent and all over the place. It was kinda of sad in a way.

So with a shrug, I downed the drink in a single chug.

---

My eyes snapped open. The world span, slower and slower until everything was right again. My feet and ankles were soaked, had I entered the pool of water at somepoint?

I moaned in discomfort, "...What happened?"

"Good, you don't remember…" Artemis said next to me.

I turned to her in a flash. She was covered in thick towels, and the night was still ongoing. The Goddess' cheeks were flushed.

My intuition was screaming that something weird happened.

"What happened?!" I said in a panic.

Artemis giggled. Giggled.

"Nothing much, Mr. Hero," Artemis said with another girly laugh.

I shivered in fear. Where had Artemis the Tsun gone?! Getting this much Dere from her was disturbing!

Artemis grinned, "I like this. Who would have thought Freya had such a good sense of humor?"

It took me a second to connect the dots. Artemis was comparing Freya's actions as Syr to herself.

Oh, thank god, this was just Artemis pranking me.

"You scared me there…" I said with a laugh.

"What, were you hoping that I did something lewd?" Artemis asked, her sweet tone hiding land-mines.

"...I've got others in my heart so…" I answered honestly.

"Nice dodge," Artemis said with a huff.

"I'm not sure what you want from me…" I grumbled.

"To give me up," Artemis said firmly, the atmosphere instantly dying as Artemis confronted me on what was to come.

"You know I can't do that," I said to her.

"Tragedies are simply the nature of Genkai," Artemis said to me, "Don't hold yourself to impossible standards."

"So I'm not supposed to even try!?" I growled back. I wasn't going to be some hypocrite who breaks promises just because they're convenient. I knew what I was getting into when I said those words to her. I knew the risk.

"Being a Hero means being a hypocrite," Artemis proclaimed, "You can't literally save everyone. That's too many lives to put on the shoulders of one man. Sometimes, you don't have the luxury to choose."

"But–" I made to interject…

But Artemis interrupted me, "Let's have a thought experiment. What happens to all the prostitutes whose lives are to be disrupted by a collapse of Ishtar Familia. We both know you want to crush her."

"!" I flinched at her poignant observation.

"You definitely don't have the time or resources to save them all," Artemis said correctly, "Why should the same not apply here?"

"..." I had no answer, her logic was sound. My choice had never really been based on logic to begin with. But it still made me pause.

"You finally see the truth," Artemis said with a sad smile.

"Rich coming from you," I grumbled.

Artemis just chuckled.

"Tell me something," I said, "In the vision… the partition of your soul reunited with yourself after you exhausted your power… what would happen if that hadn't happened?"

"...It's hard to say," Artemis said, "Perhaps it would prevent me from fully ascending back to Tenkai."

"Would you still be connected to Antares?" I asked.

"No," Artemis said firmly, "the me you see is like the original Artemis. I'm connected to the Spear. My pain stems from my connection to my main body."

"So, if you didn't exhaust yourself…" I said leadingly.

Artemis smiled, bitter yet happy.

There was a long moment of silence as I thought over the implications…

Before ignoring them because I'm a stubborn bastard.

"What's your favorite color?" I asked the ghost.

Artemis snorted, "You really are a masochist, aren't you?"

"Am not!" I deny, my face flushing at the accusation.

Artemis looked like she was resisting the urge to burst out laughing uncontrollably, "You surround yourself with girls who tease you daily — while crossdressing, might I add. Your best female friend is Freya, of all people, and that friendship is entirely based on her teasing you."

"I tease her right back!" I said, only able to defend myself on that last point. Lili would count as my best female friend if I hadn't slotted her into the little sister-esq role in my makeshift support structure.

"Freya is significantly in the lead," Artemis pointed out, unashamedly using my own memories as weapons against me.

I flinch, because she's right.

Artemis continued, "And putting aside that heroes are all masochists by default… you are literally trying to bond with someone despite knowing what will happen tomorrow. If that isn't masochism, I don't know what is."

"…What's your favorite color?" I asked again, completely ignoring her logical argument.

Artemis sighed, "…Red."

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

"You'll understand if you ever see Hestia's sacred flame," Artemis said to me, "You?"

"Dark colors," I answered, "Normal or neon shades were always boring and too bright respectively."

"No fair, that's more than one color," Artemis complained with a pout that wouldn't be misplaced on Syr's face.

"I like red too," I answered, "blue is a close second."

"Yes, I'm a fan of blue myself," Artemis said, her clothing and hair color being obvious explanations as to why that was.

"Favorite food?" I asked.

"Deer," Artemis instantly answered.

"That's a huntress Goddess for you," I said teasingly.

Artemis just slapped my shoulder for that remark.

I laughed, "Deer is good. But give me a steak any day."

"It's been some time since I had steak at a restaurant," Artemis said, "it's hard to compare to the luxuries of Orario."

"I'll take your word for it," I said, not knowing many specifics on life outside of Orario and the nearby countryside.

"Then allow me to elucidate some things…" Artemis' Ghost said to me.

We continued talking about everything and nothing. An idiot listening the the rambling last words and thoughts of the remains of a shell of a girl.

---

Quest Item Acquired!

Orion's Arrow - A divine arrow from Tenkai, used as a spear in Genkai. Indestructible and capable of channeling magic. Magic gem on the end creates a rechargeable magical blastwave. Is 'sentient' from hosting a sliver of Artemis' Arcanum and Soul. Only can be wielded by someone who is worthy.

---

Author's Notes:

(1) Bell doesn't know that Lefiya has Leveled Up, just like Lefiya and Ais are unaware that Bell had Leveled Up. Neither of their Level Ups had been registered with the Guild yet to be made public.

(2) Singularity doesn't actually work on Artemis' shade.

(3) Wow, he's beating himself up real bad for assuming the noncanonical movie wasn't going to happen. The argument he's making is that he could have theoretically prevented Artemis from being in her current situation if he had done something. Though considering his strength before recently, it's not like he could have done much to begin with.

(4) Time to conquer the air, Fire Nation style! Adventurers would never think about air warfare considering they mostly fight underground, lol. Rakia will never know what hit them. Just laying the seeds now, cause logistics isn't sexy.

(5) Artemis' Shade is essentially able to read Bell's mind. As such, she knows that he knows about the events of the movie. Since not everything in the movie matches up with current events, and since they cover events that hasn't happened yet, Artemis interprets them as some kind of Vision of an alternate future.

(6) Hermes does notice how he cannot detect a lie from Bell. But he assumes for the moment that Bell had honestly believed that air pressure changes were a contributing factor and that is why he couldn't detect a lie.

(7) Taking some inspiration from the Danmemo Spirit Festival Event, I've decided to give Ryuu a little twist to where she was uniquely able to commune with the lesser spirits. It explains more why she was asked to come along on this expedition, since Major Spirits were behind the sealing of Antares. It's also to shove in Bell's face that he doesn't know everything. And to provide Ryuu more angst since the spirits had stopped talking to her during and after her revenge arc.

Accretion Disk and Breach finally got filled up really well now that Bell has killed something like 30-40 Black Scorpions. Level 2 monsters, mainly due to their strength and defenses but their speed and dexterity are atrocious. But they provide plenty of energy for Breach since it is at I level. His fuel gauge isn't 'full' and can't really be 'full' but he is basically at the point of no longer having any debuffs right now – for the moment at least.

Ais gets preemptively kicked from the party for being unwilling to use monsters as a mount. Otherwise she would have been brought along. As it is, Lefiya gets brought along because her Protagonist Energy(™) was large enough to net herself a spot in the party. I mean, she isn't really needed, but this is just natural character development for her (to be able to make the spear budge) since she has been inspired by Bell from the Floor 18 Incident.

What happened while Bell was momentarily drunk? It has been cut for breaking the terms and conditions of this website. As in, there was hand-holding. But there was also a conversation similar to the scene in the movie, which is why Artemis calls Bell 'Mr. Hero' and proceeds to bring up things about tragedy.

Travel has been sped up from ten days of travel down to three. That way there are six days of travel and one or two days of fighting at the destination. We are keeping this mini-arc confined to a single week, it's speedrunning time I guess.

Speaking of speedrunning, this chapter is essentially me trying to make SURE that people care about Artemis considering we probably won't spend much time with her. Not gonna lie. Especially since this isn't the Kuudere version of Artemis everyone is used to.

As Artemis states herself, the version of her being projected from the Arrow is more weapon than Goddess. It's like a talking sword. Artemis' personality is imprinted, as opposed to the original movie, and some of her soul is there. But it's almost like a robot. She acts alive, but is barely just.

Put another way, she is just imitating the original Artemis at first – along with a desperation to follow Artemis' last directive to find someone worthy of the Spear. And, upon connecting with Bell via his unlocking of the spear, she starts to slowly imprint traits from Bell. And a little from Lefiya from their brief connection.

The Artemis we see is just acting off of the information in Artemis' past and personality in combination with that of the person she is bonded to. I.E. Bell. So moments where she is suddenly being teasing are moments where she is copying his prankster side. Artemis has enough awareness to show how anti-romance and anti-man she is, but not enough to suppress her nature as a living weapon searching for a worthy wielder able to bear the might of a goddess.

Lefiya's outfit is the 'Incantation' unit from the Danmachi mobile game.

P.S. After over a month, I've gotten over my writer's block for the beginning of my Chapter 18 draft. That said, I'm pretty sure a lot of people are gonna hate it. Too bad so sad, because some stuff in Chapter 18 I've been planning since the beginning of this story. Get hyped?

Next time, Bell casually goes to save the world but his self-esteem goes down instead of up. Feelz bad.