Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi
Aiz stared at the mansion hidden behind the fence in front of her. It was the first time that she had ever seen the Hestia familia's home. She hadn't been part of the surveillance of Bell's home during the Xenos situation. It was early in the morning and the air was getting chilly as it approached the end of September. But as that meant nothing to an adventurer she was wearing her usual outfit.
She took a good look at it. It was not as big as her familia home but it wasn't small. It had a big open yard and was spread more wide compared to Twilight Manor.
As she was contemplating the differences Finn came up behind her and started talking to the group gathered there.
"Okay does everyone remember the goal?" He asked them. As various affirmations came from behind she nodded her head. Behind her was the group that was chosen to be here. It was Loki, Gareth, Riveria, and Finn. Loki who still had a hangover from last night let out a groan at Finn, question.
"We get it. Can we just go in already? My head is killing me. She said while holding her head. Gareth, who was watching, just laughed.
"For an alcoholic, you sure can't hold your liquor," he teased her, causing her to snap back.
While they were bickering Riveria gently pulled Aiz aside to talk to her. Aiz looked at her confused but followed nonetheless.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Riviera asked quietly. When Aiz heard the question she tilted her head confused. Would she be okay with what? When Riveria saw that she explained.
"Bell's adventure most likely has to do with the Xenos," she paused for a second to look at her face before continuing. "I know you don't know what to think about them after meeting them. Hearing this might be much for you."
Aiz understood where Riveria was coming from. Aiz hated monsters. It was the whole reason for her getting stronger. She understood that well…but this was a different matter.
"I know they are different than all the other monsters." She said. When Riveria heard that she opened her mouth to speak but Aiz continued. "And more importantly if I don't hear this Bell will go further away."
Riviera's eyes widened when she heard that. She saw Aiz nod to herself as if agreeing with herself. When she saw that she smiled. Looked like this boy was changing Aiz more than she thought. While she was happy she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. It had taken an entire year to get Aiz to open up and this boy had done it effortlessly in half the time.
'I wonder if this is how Lefiya feels?' She idly thought to herself. But as the girl's mother figure, she had to make sure she was gonna be safe. However, despite being a century old herself, she didn't know much about romance. As she wondered how to help Finn spoke up again.
"Okay. They should be ready now so let's get going. Also don't forget what we discussed last night." After he finished saying that he walked through the gates as the others followed. As Aiz followed him she thought about what they talked about last night when they got home.
—
It was dark when they finally got back to Twilight Manor. The moon was visible in the night sky shining down on them. Even after leaving the Benevolent Mistress the group was still in high spirits. They were all talking loudly as they went into their house. Except for Bete and Loki who passed out in the excitement. Cruz and Raul dragged Bete up to his room as Narfi did the same to Loki. Finn said goodnight to them, then nodded to the rest of the group and gestured to them to follow.
As they followed Finn took them to his office. When they all got there Finn shut the door and sat at his desk. All the people gathered knew what he wanted to talk about so they patiently waited for him to talk. At seeing they weren't as drunk as he thought Finn began explaining.
"So tomorrow morning we are going to the Hestia familia's mansion to hear what happened on their expedition." He paused for a moment, knowing they wouldn't like what was coming before continuing. "There were a few conditions they asked of us before agreeing though. The most important one is the people that go can't tell anyone and they put a hefty penalty on us if broken."
"That's reasonable. If they went through all this trouble of hiding it it must be important." Riviera replied.
"Agreed. The other condition is that the only people who can go are Loki and the executives." As soon as Finn finished talking as expected there was a loud outrage. Lefiya, the twins, and Aiz all looked at him with displeasure.
"That's no fair Captain," Tiona yelled at him, "I want to hear about Argonaut's adventure too!"
"Yeah, that's right! I can just tell us after they won't know!" Lefiya said right after.
"And I can't trust you being near that prum without me there to watch over you!" Tione said as she glared at him.
As they were all talking only Aiz didn't say anything but she was also angry at him. What was the point of her asking Bell to tell her if she couldn't be there?
"One of those reasons was a bit different than the others," Gareth commented wryly as he looked at Tione who was pissed about Finn being near Lilly.
Finn just quietly waited for them to settle down before continuing.
"Unfortunately we can't later tell you. All their goddess has to do is ask one of you and there's nothing we can do. And I can guarantee you that they will do that and we can't pay their punishment." After saying that he paused as he thought about something. "Also the thing better Lilly and me is over."
After he said that Tione looked satisfied while the rest looked dissatisfied.
"What exactly is the punishment you agreed to?" Riveria asked once she saw no one would talk.
"Just a 200 million valis payment and a favor we can't ignore," Finn answered casually. When they all heard that they looked at him in shock.
"...That serious huh?" Gareth said as he rubbed his beard.
Everyone was silent as they thought over what they heard. It seemed what happened down there was more serious than what they imagined. Aiz's heart ached when she thought of this and she spoke.
"I'm also going. He said he would tell me." She told Finn. Everyone looked at her after she finished. Aiz knew she shouldn't go against her captain but this was something she couldn't back down on.
As everyone looked at Finn to see what he would do he just calmly nodded. "Of course, I was gonna bring you anyway."
Once she heard that she let out a smile. Ever since she heard Bell's chime even if she didn't know it she began showing more expressions.
Tiona didn't care at the moment as she looked at Finn angrily.
"What the hell Captain? I thought you said only executives could go!" She complained to Finn before her sister started yelling at her.
"It's fine, Tione," Finn said to calm her down before they started fighting. "Anyway I wanted Aiz to come for a reason. She is the closest to Bell so she can get him to say things he wouldn't to the rest of us."
While Aiz was happy to hear she was the closest to Bell, Lefiya didn't understand what he meant.
"What do you mean? Do you think they will lie to us?" Lefiya questioned him. While she didn't like Bell she knew he wasn't a liar.
"Not lie per se, but they will most likely withhold some information. If possible I'm hoping Aiz can get him to slip up like in the bar. Also, this is a good opportunity to figure out how Bell grows so fast. It is most likely a rare skill but if find out we might be able to use it ourselves."
When they heard that they realized he had a point. Seeing as they had calmed down, Riveria spoke up to the girls.
"Anyway, I suggest you girls get some sleep. It was a busy day today so I'm sure you must be tired. We will finish talking about this." She told them. Aiz nodded her head and left with the rest of them looking forward to seeing Bell tomorrow.
—
When they got to the door Finn knocked to announce their presence. After a few seconds of waiting they heard someone rushing to the door. They took a step back as the door opened up revealing a blonde fox in a maid's outfit. Their eyes widened when they saw that but Haruhime just bowed and welcomed them in.
"Welcome to the Hearth Mansion. Sorry for the wait we're waiting in the main living room. Follow me please."
After saying that she stepped aside so they could enter. As they entered she shut the door behind them and started to lead them to the living room. As everyone else was staring at the interior of the mansion, Aiz was staring at Haruhime.
'She looked cute in that outfit,' Aiz thought to herself as Mini Aiz tried on a maid outfit herself. While Aiz didn't care much for fashion and always wore her one outfit she began wondering if she should have worn something else for this.
After a minute or so of walking they arrived at a door that Haruhime opened up the door leading to the living room as they walked through the doors Aiz could only think of one thing, home.
It was a big room but it was filled with furniture and other objects. There were two couches and a white armchair in the middle of the room. One was an oversized brown L-shaped couch with a big circular table in the middle of it. The other couch was a bit away and was a regular long brown couch with a nightstand right next to it. There was also a small table with two cushioned chairs next to the window looking out at the yard on the left wall. On the right side of the room was a wooden working desk with a bunch of papers on it. But the most impressive thing had to have been the big stone hearth in the back of the room. On either side of it, the entire wall was a filled bookshelf. The hearth was in use right now blanketing the room in a soft warm glow.
But it wasn't the room itself that invoked this feeling, it was also all the small things. The board game that was sitting in the middle of the table. The well-used cups of tea that they were using, the items that were hung up on all the walls from each familia member, and most importantly the way they looked as they were in here. Comfortable and safe.
As Aiz stared at all of this she thought about her mother and father. Back then in their home that was how Aiz also felt. While Aiz was lost in the past Finn stepped forward.
"Thank you for inviting us into your lovely home. I see now while you're called the Goddess of the Hearth." He said to Hestia.
"Huh, what's this? One of Flat Chest's children has good taste. Heh." Hestia replied, causing Loki to snap.
"What was that you shrimp?" She said as she started to walk forward before Riveria grabbed her.
Seeing as things were off to a bad start Bell stood up.
"No thank you for coming. Please take a seat." He said pointing to the empty long brown couch. As they sat down Bell offered them some of Welf's tea.
"Thank you," Finn said, "glad to see all that waiting at the Benevolent Mistress wasn't for nothing."
Bell laughed before he sat down with the rest of his familia on the L-shaped couch. When everyone sat down and had refreshments Lilly got the conversation rolling.
"So before we begin let me ask, what exactly do you know and who told you?" She asked immediately.
Finn smiled and it was time for another battle between him and Lilly. This time it was one on information.
"Well, we don't know much just that Bell went to the 37th floor. As for who told us it was one of the Xenos that told Aiz while she was in the dungeon."
When they heard that the Hestia familia looked shocked they all thought it had something to do with Hermes. Bell in particular was worried.
"Who was it?" He asked Aiz.
"It was a mermaid named Mari." She replied.
"You met Mari? Is she okay?" He asked one question after another.
Aiz squinted her eyes as she saw how worried he was before realizing Bell would be this worried for anyone.
"Yes."
Lilly nodded once they were finished. "Okay, you guys know less than Lilly thought. We will explain from the beginning but it will be a long story. Is that fine with you all?"
"Yes that's fine we all have nothing to do for the rest of the day so take your time," Finn replied while Gareth and Riveria gave similar replies. Loki just sat there quietly grinning at Bell waiting for him to get started.
Aiz and Mini Aiz just stared at Bell waiting for him to get started. Once Bell realized everyone was ready he began.
"Well, I suppose I should start at the beginning. At first, it was just an expedition to the 25th floor. We had help from the Micah and Takemikazuchi familia's. Aisha was there too." He started as he explained the makeup of the party. Once she heard that Aiz narrowed her eyes.
"Why was she there?" She asked him.
Bell was confused; he didn't think they would start asking questions this early. He looked at Haruhime for help and she just nodded. Taking that as an okay he told them.
"Well, Aisha is sort of like Haruhime's big sister so she came to protect her."
Once they heard that they looked at her who just shyly nodded. Seeing that that was settled Bell continued.
"So at first it was normal and we made it to the Water Capital for the first time. Isn't that place so beautiful? It was like nothing I've ever seen before." Bell was getting off track but Aiz didn't care. It was nice to see Bell so happy. Once Bell realizes he is getting sidetracked he blushes.
"Sorry. Anyway, it was good at first just a standard dungeon party. Then we ran into some injured adventurers. They were attacked by an irregular moss monster."
"Irregular… a regular irregular or a Xenos?" Finn asked.
"It was not a Xenos," Bell confidently answered, "but it was really smart for a monster."
"Smart? A monster?" Gareth jumped into the conversation.
Welf was the one who answered him. "Yeah, it was a real piece of work for sure. It was smart enough to lay traps and knew how to attack a party. It went straight for the support and mages in the back line first."
Riviera furrowed her brows when she heard this. A monster that knew to attack mages before they could get their spells out was a menace.
"That wasn't even the worst part of it. It was also able to shoot seeds that burrowed into the adventurer's body and drain their energy. It also served to track them." Lilly added on.
As the mood got dark Bell continued the story. "He injured one of our party members the first time we ran into him with that attack. After we got away with the other injured adventuers we noticed the seed's ability. Our healer gave us a choice to either go back to the surface or kill the monster."
"So you choose to fight it?" Aiz asked. That was the option she would have to choose if she was down there.
"Yes, but it didn't go so well. He put out some injured adventuers as bait for us and when we went for them he charged the backline." Bell explained.
"Yeah if it wasn't for Mr. Bell getting there in time we could have been in danger," Lilly said as she thought of how close it was. "Mr Bell started then fought off the monster to save us."
Once she heard that Aiz was happy that her training helped him.
"How strong was the monster?" She asked Bell.
"If I had to take a guess…. Mid level 4."
When Finn heard that he was impressed. "It must have been hard fighting him as a new level 4 yourself."
"Yeah, I still hadn't fully gotten used to my new status either so it was difficult." Bell started describing the fight. "It was going well at first… until he dragged me into the river. It was my first time fighting in water so I couldn't fight him well. Then he got away once he threw me into the waterfall."
"Hahahahahaha," Gareth started laughing, "it's always something interesting with you."
While Gareth was enjoying it Aiz looked at Bell in horror. She came close to losing Bell and she didn't even know it. While she was in shock, Finn asked how he was alive.
"That's a big drop. One I'm not sure even I could survive how did you do it?"
"Well it wasn't from the highest point but it still did injure me pretty bad. To make it all worse I was attacked by a group of Iguacu."
"That must have been difficult. It was your first time seeing them wasn't it?"
"Yes, but my advisor told me about them so I was able to fight them off."
"How?" Aiz jumped in not wanting to be left out.
"Um… well," But for some reason Bell started blushing. As they looked at him in confusion Bell started to explain. "I was very mad at the situation so I wasn't thinking straight. So I thought to myself ' What would Aiz do' and then I stood up and cut them all down when they flew at me."
After he said that the room was silent as everyone looked between Aiz and Bell who were both blushing. Bell was just embarrassed, but Aiz was happy that Bell was thinking about her and how she helped him. After that embarrassing moment where Finn, Gareth, and Welf were trying not to laugh, Bell continued.
"So after that is when I first meet Mari. She gave me some of her blood to heal up from the fall."
Finn was deeply interested after hearing that. Mermaid's blood was a great healing item. If there was someone who would freely give it out it could save many lives. While he was wondering about this Aiz noticed Bell was acting weird.
"What else?" She asked him.
"Huh?" He was confused he didn't know what she meant.
"What else happened with Mari?" She repeated to him.
"Uhhh nothing happened-" Right as he was about to reply Loki interrupted him.
"You're lying boy." She said smiling at him.
"Yeah Bell, what are you hiding?" Hestia also jumped in once she saw Bell was hiding something.
Bell realising he couldn't get out let out a sigh of embarrassment. "Nothing happened honestly she just gave me her blood in a certain way. But anyway that's not important let's move on."
Finn seeing Bell wanted a way out helped him out.
"So what happened after that?" He asked Bell.
Seeing the chance Bell instantly grabbed on. Mini Aiz glared at Finn while Aiz tried to figure out how Bell got the blood.
"Well after that Mari guided me to the Irregular who was fighting with our group." After he said that he looked pleadingly at Welf to hurry up the story. Welf smirked at his captain and then started talking.
"Yeah after Bell took his dip we went back to the top of the 25th floor in case we needed to leave while we waited for Bell. We had a spot where we could defend against the monster but he was smart. He caused a passing parade to push us away. We handled that pretty well at first thanks to Aisha but that monster got us good." He finished with a scowl. Lilly who was listening explained the rest.
"The monster used a passing parade not to crush us like we first thought. But to gather new monster cores to eat." She explained. Once they heard that the group looked shocked this monster sounded more and more worrisome. "After eating all those cores it became around a high level 4. Before it had a chance to do anything though Bell came in and finished it off."
Aiz was impressed, she knew how strong Bell was but for a new level 4 to win against a high level 4 monster was a good achievement.
"So you did kill it?" She asked him.
"Yes. It was a tough fight but thanks to the Iguacu I was able to get into top gear and win." Bell said while making sure not to mention his new attack.
"What did you guys do after that?" Finn asked, wondering what this had to do with the 37th floor.
"We went back up to the Rivera so our injured could heal."
Finn looked confused when he heard that. "Then why did you go back down if your party was injured?" There was something he was missing but he didn't know what yet.
As he asked that, Aiz saw Bell's expression fall. When she saw that her heart ached and Mini Aiz pointed at Bell. She got up and walked over to Bell on the other couch. Everyone looked at her weirdly as she sat next to Bell. Bell looked at her in shock but she didn't mind any of that. She just grabbed Bell's head and put it in her lap. When he was there she began gently stroking his soft hair.
As she did that everyone started talking at once.
"Aizu what are you doing!?" Loki screamed.
"Aiz!" Riviera said scandilazed.
"Mr. Bell what are you doing!?" Lilly yelled at him.
"What are you doing flirty with Bell in my house!" Hestia scolded Aiz.
While they all were yelling Finn, Gareth, and Welf were just laughing out loud. Aiz just seemed confused at the commutations while Bell was blushing just lying there stunned. Aiz looked at Riveria for an explanation. Riviera seemed flabbergasted at her daughter as she tried to string the words together.
"What are you doing over there Aiz?" She tried to calmly ask.
"I'm just doing what I normally do with Bell." She replied as she kept patting his head. Most of the females in the Hestia familia looked ready to start yelling so Riveria spoke faster.
"And you do this often?"
"Yeah. Just like you told me to." When Aiz said that Riveria remembered when she told Aiz to do that to Bell in the dungeon. The rest of the Loki familia looked at Riveria in shock. Shocked that the elf princess would have been the one to tell Aiz that.
Bell figured this was a good time to talk. "Um, why now though?"
Aiz thought about it for a second before answering. "Because you looked sad."
Bell realized that Aiz was doing this for him and was ecstatic. Understanding that Bell was out of commission for a while Welf asked if anyone needed a refill. After giving them their refill Bell was ready to start again.
"So when we got there there was an incident," He paused for a second before continuing, "There was a rumor that Gale Wind murdered an adventurer."
After he finished saying that the executives looked confused.
"Who's Gale Wind?" Loki asked them.
"She used to be an adventurer for the Astrea familia," Finn replied.
"But now she is blacklisted for ending the age of the evils," Gareth added.
"She hasn't been seen since then. Though there were rumors of her death recently."
As they were talking about Loki nodded as she remembered now.
"So what did her murdering someone have to do with it?" Loki asked.
"Gale Wind didn't murder anyone!" Bell said.
Finn looked at him in shock. "I didn't realize you knew Gale Wind personally given how new to the city you are."
"Gale Wind is someone who has helped me many times and I trust her deeply."
Once he finished saying that Aiz looked at him before realizing something.
"That elf… She was Gale Wind. The one who helped in the war games and fought me in the alley." She said as she remembered that elf.
"Yes, that was her," Bell replied, "Like I said she has helped me a lot since I got her."
With that out of the way Bell continued. "She was accused of a crime so the people of the Rivira decided to lead a manhunt to find her. We decided to join once we heard so we could find out the truth. Once it started though a lot of things happened. I moved on with a group with Bors while the others stayed back. After looking for a while I found her with an injured adventurer."
He paused here for a second before staring at them. "This part of the story is the most important and can't be told to anyone. If you can't then I will not tell you anything." This was slightly less dramatic than it should have been with Bell's head still on Aiz's lap. But even so, they all nodded their heads as they realized this was the moment they had been waiting for. Seeing that Bell went on.
"I stepped in between them at first before she explained herself. The injured adventurer was a former member of Evils named Jura. He was responsible for the Astera familia deaths. Once I found that out we were gonna capture him but he was a tamer and had a certain object that could tame monsters. He had a Lambton as a pet."
Aiz was starting to get worried. The Lambton was a dangerous monster for an untrained adventurer.
"I guess I shouldn't be shocked that you were able to beat it." She said to Bell as she stoked his head as a reward.
"No, I didn't do much it was mostly Gale Wind I was just the distraction. She was incredible you should've seen her."
Aiz felt conflicted when she heard that. On one hand, she was happy that Bell was alive but she wanted to be the one who was with him. Neither of them noticed but everyone else stopped talking as they realized that the two of them only had eyes for each other. Finn figured this was for the best as he looked at them.
"What happened after you beat it?" She asked.
"After that, we thought we won…. Then he sprung his real trap. His trap was to summon the irregular that murdered the Astrea familia." Bell said. Once they heard that the Loki familia members stared in horror. Finn was not going to say anything but now he had to.
"What do you mean by that Bell?"
"This is a secret that only we and Gale Wind know. We were told after the specifics by Ouranos. This can't be let out of this room," after making sure they understood he began explaining, "So after the dungeon floor takes a certain amount of damage, around twenty percent, that it can't heal from it will birth an irregular. The monster has one goal to kill every adventurer on that level. This is what happened all those years ago to the Astrea familia. It is also what happened to all the people in the water capital."
As Bell stopped talking Aiz felt the anger and sadness rolling off of him and she did her best to soothe him as she rubbed his head. Mini Aiz wanted to hug him and never let him go as she held her white rabbit doll. Seeing that Bell was gonna be out of commission for a while Welf told the other side of the story.
"The whole water capital counts as one level to the dungeon so they split up into two groups to cause the explosions that summoned the monster. That group also had a Lambton but we were able to beat it thanks to Aisha." He paused for a second as he remembered that scene before he told them.
"We got lucky, to be honest. We didn't see the monster ourselves but we saw the aftermath of it. It was a scene from a nightmare the water capital was covered in red from all the adventurers it killed. The monsters were getting agitated too." He finished. No one was smiling anymore they realized how serious the situation was.
As everyone was waiting for Bell to continue he took a deep breath before he started.
"It's called the Juggernaut. It looks like a dinosaur wearing armor. It is all black, very skinny, very huge, and was on four legs. You should think of it as a mobile floor boss."
As he finished describing it Finn asked the most important question. "How strong is it? Could we beat it in a fight?"
Bell took a moment to deeply think about it before he answered. "I think the Loki Familia would win as long as most of the high adventurers were still alive after the first minute and Miss Riveria and Lefiya were not part of the fight. But you guys would take heavy casualties."
This was a very serious claim. The Loki Familia were shocked they had survived through many things but Bell thought they would suffer major losses.
"May I ask why you have specified me and Lefiya in particular, Mr. Cranel?"
Bell looked at her apologetically before answering, "Nothing against you in general just a part of the Juggernaut's special characteristics. Let me explain its fighting capabilities. I don't know how true this is but supposedly the level of the juggernaut depends on the floor it was spawned in. If I had to take a guess the one we fought was around the same level as a level 5 floor boss."
"It is extremely fast and has legs that make it so it can jump around as quickly as possible. It has claws sharp enough to cut through most materials….. The scariest thing though has to be its armor. It has a special property where it reflects all magical attacks."
Finn glanced at Loki to see if he was telling the truth. She just nodded grimly. When Finn saw that he thought for a minute before talking.
"I agree that I won't spread this information however I insist on telling the rest of the level 6s in my familia. Them knowing this info can save a lot of lives. You have my word they will not tell anyone." He asked of them. Hearing that there was no way they could say no, they allowed him to tell the rest of them.
"Sorry for interrupting, but how did you manage to beat it then?" He asked.
"I got lucky. When it arrived it started to kill the other adventurers first. When I saw that I jumped in to fight it." When Aiz heard that she grabbed Bell's hand with one hand while the other kept patting his hair.
"I was fighting it for a minute before I fired off a firebolt that got reflected at me. After that, I was distracted and he used that opportunity to cut off my right arm with his tail. Then he broke my neck." He said it lightheartedly so it took a second for them to realize what he said.
"WHAT!?" Aiz yelled at him. Bell was stunned and so was everyone else, that was the loudest anyone had ever heard Aiz. Aiz looked closely at Bell to see if she could see any scars. Mini Aiz was crying as she looked at Bell.
"How did you survive that boy?" Gareth asked impressed that was an injury not many could live from.
"Well, I got lucky again. I was wearing a scarf made from the Goliath so I was saved. Gale Wind held off the Juggernaut while I fell into the river. As I was falling Mari grabbed me and bled over me so she could heal my wounds."
When Aiz heard that Mari saved Bell for the first time in her life she thanked a monster from the bottom of her heart. She decided she would go see her again to thank her for saving Bell.
"What did you do after that?" She asked even though she already had an idea.
"I went back of course. While it was distracted with Gale Wind I was able to sneak up to it and injure its back leg."
"So you made it so it couldn't jump around anymore." Finn praised his battle sense.
"Yeah. It may have an overwhelming attack but because of that its defense is lacking. If you can land a good hit it will do damage."
He told them its weakness before continuing.
"After that, we were at a standstill. I was able to block its attack by wrapping the scarf around my left arm. If no one interfered I could have probably killed it then."
"What happened?" Aiz asked, rubbing his head to help soothe him. She thought it was helping the way Bell leaned into her touch unconsciously.
"Well, Jura put a device that allowed him to control monsters on the Juggernaut and ordered it to kill me and Gale Wind. But it didn't work and it killed him. That's when everything went to hell."
They were shocked to hear Bell say something like that. He took a second as he remembered what happened to him. During that, he felt Aiz squeeze his hand and smile.
"Well, the Lambton woke up and then attacked Gale Wind. She couldn't move her leg that was injured during the fight so I jumped to grab her just as the Lambton swallowed us and brought us to its nest on the 37th floor. We just got there when I was able to kill it and drag us out of its corpse."
The Loki familia didn't say a word. They all know the seriousness of what Bell just said.
"So," Finn started, "you went to the 37th floor for the first time with just two injured people with no supplies whatsoever?"
Seeing that Bell needed a second to gather himself, Welf stepped in.
"How about you go get some air before you continue, Bell? We can tell them about our adventurer while we wait." He offered.
Bell looked around and saw that the Loki Familia didn't mind, he nodded his head, got off of Aiz's lap, and left the room with a quick, "Excuse me."
As Aiz saw him leave she stared at the door for a moment before she decided to follow him. As she got up Riveria called out to her.
"Aiz?"
"I'm going to check on Bell." She replied as she left.
When she heard that Lilly got up ready to chase her. But Welf just grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down.
"Mr. Welf what are you doing!?" She yelled at him.
"Let's give them a minute." He said with a smirk. He looked at the Loki Familia. "You guys don't mind right?"
Riveria looked conflicted but Finn just smirked with Welf. "Yeah, that's fine with us. More importantly, though, what was this you mentioned about your adventure?"
Welf just smirked wider.
"Nothing much, just how we fought and beat the Amphisbaena with our group of level 2s."
—-
When Aiz left the room she immediately tracked Bell down. As she followed him she realized he had gone outside. When she stepped outside she found him sitting against a tree in the yard. He looked questioningly at her when she walked up to him.
"Is everything okay?" He asked bewildered about why she was there. She just sat down next to him before she answered.
"I just wanted to check up on you…. You seemed scared."
When he heard that he blushed and looked away. "It's embarrassing but I was. I still have nightmares about that place."
Just after he finished saying that Aiz's heart squeezed uncomfortably. She wasn't used to seeing Bell look so downtrodden. He was always so lively and energetic. As she thought this Mini Aiz looked pleadingly at her to fix it.
"You shouldn't be ashamed. You lived through an adventure. It's okay to be scared as long as you move forward….. If it helps you can just tell me." She told him as she grabbed his hand. As he finally looked at her she let out a small smile as she tried to encourage him.
Bell's eyes widened as he stared at her. "What about the rest of them?" He whispered.
"We will worry about them later," she whispered back. She didn't know why they were both being quiet but it fit the mood. "Do you want to?"
Bell nodded his head in reply. During that, Aiz just smiled and gently patted her lap. Bell blushed when he saw that. Aiz felt a little sad when he didn't move.
"Do you not like this?" She asked in a small voice. She didn't realize how much she liked doing this to Bell, but she would stop if he didn't like it.
Bell frantically shook his head. "I didn't say that!"
Aiz smiled again when she heard that. She gently grabbed his head and pulled him towards her lap. She made it so he could break out if he wanted to, but Bell diligently followed and was soon back in her lap. Mini Aiz happily watched and pointed towards his head. Getting her message she began to caress his head.
They stated that for a while just enjoying the moment between them. After some time passed Bell started recounting his story.
"I knew where we were the second I looked around thanks to the lessons my advisor gave me. The first thing I thought about when I realized where we were was what you said about the deep levels. We were in bad shape. Gale Wind had a broken leg and was injured all over. While I wasn't much better my eye was shut because of the stomach acid and my left arm was in pieces only being held together by the scarf. Not to mention we both had little Mind left."
With each thing he added Aiz felt her heart sink lower and lower.
"Before I could start panicking more we were attacked by a skull sheep." He paused for a second before continuing. It's a bit embarrassing but if it wasn't for Gale Wind I would have probably died. She was able to throw a knife to kill it while it was distracted with me."
Aiz didn't think it was embarrassing at all the fact that Bell was alive was nothing short of a miracle. If she ever met Gale Wind again she would thank her. She nodded to let Bell know to continue.
"After it was dead she used the last of her Mind to heal my eye. That's when the Juggernaut started to break the ceiling trying to chase us. We should have died again then but we got lucky and were able to lose it. After wandering around for a bit we thought we had found other adventurers…. But it was just some corpses of adventurers. We had to rob their corpses." He said in a whisper.
She understood why he was being quiet. No adventurer liked to pillage from the fallen. But sometimes it was necessary to survive. Bell was just too nice to be able to do that.
So she gently whispered back in a soothing voice, "I know that must have been difficult for you, but I need you to promise me you will do whatever it takes to survive and come back."
He looked at her with an emotion she couldn't describe but made her heart skip a beat.
"I know thanks to their equipment we were able to escape alive. I will never forget their sacrifice."
He took a moment of silence during which Aiz just kept gently playing with his hair.
"I'm good now thanks," Aiz just nodded so he went on, "After that, we took turns taking 5 min naps. Thank you for all your training. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have survived down there."
Mini Aiz jumped in joy knowing even if she wasn't there she was able to help Bell. Aiz who also felt that way just sat up straighter with pride.
"After we rested we used the map they left to try to get to the main road. If we did that Gale Wind knew the rest of the way out. So we started to leave."
"How did you deal with all the monsters?" Aiz interrupted him. The monsters on the 37th floor were not weak by any means and from the way Bell described it neither of them were in the best condition.
"I fought while Gale Wind supported me with her throwing daggers. She's amazing Aiz. While we were down there she kept her cool and was even teaching me. She taught me the importance of using your surroundings and finishing the battle with a single strike." He proudly gushed to her about his new teacher.
Aiz felt conflicted when she heard this. She was happy that Bell had someone reliable down there with him. But at the same time, she wanted to be Bell's only master.
"Keep going." She said as she tried to figure out these feelings.
"Well, we were quite a bit away from the destination on the map so we had to fight a lot of monsters. Of course, we tried to run and hide if we could."
"Her fighting style is similar to ours so it was easy to listen to her advice. Even then though it was hell. New monsters I've never seen kept coming in waves. So many times it wouldn't have been unreasonable for us to die. It got even worse when the Peludas' arrived."
Aiz shuddered when she heard that. Out of all the monsters on the 37th floor she hated fighting Peludas and their poison.
"Don't tell me…" she trailed off when she looked at Bella's pale face.
"Yes, it got me. But it was fine!" He rushed to explain when he felt her hand press harder. "I have a blade that cures poison so it was no big deal."
Aiz let out a sigh as she heard this. Listening to this was taking years off her life. "Please tell me this was the last incident." She begged him.
She looked at him as she said that and watched him look away. That answered her question.
"I'm sorry." She said as her hair covered her eyes.
Bell seemed shocked when she apologized.
"I wasn't able to help you at all when you needed me." She felt useless. Whenever Bell was in trouble she used to help him. Now she was always absent or standing against him.
As she was thinking these things she felt a hand on her cheek. Bell was looking at her from Bell with a soft adoring smile.
"Don't say something so stupid. The only reason I'm alive at this moment is because of you. Your training has saved me more times than I can count."
By that point, she was already blushing but Bell kept going without stopping.
"And not just training. Any time I'm in a dangerous situation I think about what you would do and I get a boost of courage. In case I've never said it, thank you for everything Aiz, I'm glad I met you."
By the time he finished, they were both fully red and their hearts were pounding. It was too much for Mini Aiz. She passed out on the floor with steam coming off her face.
Aiz could say nothing, she just kept opening and closing her mouth. She just kept looking at Bell and that bright smile he flashed her. After a while, she just shyly looked away and finally said something.
"Thank you." He looked confused but there was no way for him to know how happy those words made her. He then took his hand off her cheek.
With the mood restored, Bell continued, "Don't worry there were only 2 more life or death situations and then we escaped."
She looked sternly at him for making jokes about it and lightly slapped his head before allowing him to continue.
"We realized that the map we had led us to the Colosseum. Thanks to that, Gale Wind was able to determine where we were. There was a problem though."
"Don't tell me you went into the Colosseum?" She had a feeling she knew where this was going.
"Yeah, we did. It was the only way to get to the main road out."
"Not even my familia has gone there."
"I understand why it was awful. An endless battle with infinite monsters. We went in around the edges covered with sheepskin so they didn't recognize us."
"It worked well at first but then a monster spawned underneath us. Once that happened they all swarmed us. We managed to get to the edge of the bridge when…." He stopped talking.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Gale Wind used her magic to blow me over the bridge and then destroyed it with herself left behind."
Aiz's eyes widened in shock. Though she shouldn't have been if she thought about it. It was a bad situation, it was a smart move. However, even though it was smart that didn't mean she agreed with it.
"I couldn't let her die like that so I ran to another bridge while charging my skill."
"The chiming one?" She wanted to know.
"Yeah."
"I like that one. The ringing bells sound beautiful." She nonchalantly commented. She looked at Bell strangely when he started to cough and stutter upon hearing that.
"A-anyway w-when I got back she was in the middle of the Colosseum. So I ran to her and unleashed my skill. I was charging it for a full 4 minutes so the blast destroyed the Colosseum."
He said it so casually like it wasn't a big deal but Aiz couldn't believe her ears. Not even Riveria could do that with one spell. She could probably kill all the monsters at once but not destroy the whole building. Bell continued since he didn't see her reaction.
"After the building was destroyed we fell into a new passage." He hesitated before telling the rest. "Gale Wind got mad at me because I came back, and then a barbarian attacked us. I had to play dead to get it to come closer and when it grabbed me I killed it. Gale Wind was furious with me."
"I would be too. Never do that to me, understand?" She glared down at him so he would know she wasn't joking.
He quickly nodded his head. "I understand. Anyway, that saved our lives as we were able to find a safe zone with a river in it."
"Wait, there's a safe space on the 37th floor? With water?" She questioned him. She didn't doubt him, it was just she never had heard of it.
"Yeah, Gale Wind thought it was because before us no one was stupid enough to get near the Colosseum."
"Finn will probably want a map of where it was for future expeditions." She let him know in advance.
Bell chuckled when he heard that, "Gotcha."
"So you guys were able to rest up while you were in there?" She asked him before she realized something was wrong. Bell just nodded quickly and looked away while blushing. Mini Aiz, who woke up, stared at Bell suspiciously.
"Is something the matter, Bell." She asked him. He paled a little as she just stared at him. She wasn't going to let him get out of this.
"It's nothing…. We just had to hold each other to stay warm… While mostly naked." Bell was heavily blushing at this point, but Aiz was still just blankly staring at him.
"Lefiya was right? You are a womanizer?" After she said this she thought of all the times Bell had interactions with women. She was getting angrier the more she thought of it. She knew that it wasn't the time to think of things like that. They did what they had to to survive. That didn't mean she liked it. She didn't want Bell to do things like that with other women. She saw Mini Aiz blushing as she looked at Bell and had a certain thought run through her mind.
'Would I mind if it was me down there with him?' She blushed heavily as she imagined that. Bell hugging her from behind. Their naked bodies touching. She had to shake her head to stop thinking of this. She felt hot and itchy all over her body. As she was trying to get over it she tuned back in to Bell who was still trying to defend himself.
"We weren't fully naked we still had our underwear on! And she was the one who suggested it!" Bell was almost screaming at this point trying to convince her.
"Is there anything else that happened?"
"Ugh," when she heard that noise she narrowed her eyes, "It's nothing bad! We just talked!"
"About?"
"I just said I realized how small she was and that I realized why a man wants to protect a woman." His voice got quieter as he talked. Aiz also wanted to move on from this conversation and urged Bell on.
"And what happened after you rested and left."
Bell let out a sigh of relief at that. "Well, we exited the safe room from a different spot on the wall. Gale Wind knew where we were and guided us to the exit…. Right where the Juggernaut was waiting for us."
Aiz knew that was likely to have happened but she hoped she was wrong. She just rubbed his head to ease him as he told her the rest of the story.
"It snuck up on us with its new body. It had absorbed other monsters to get back its back leg. Even though we rested it still wasn't good for us. The fight started well but he was able to get a Peludas spike to hit my stomach." He flinched as he said that and rubbed his stomach. "I had to use a firebolt on my wound after I took it out."
"That's reckless, Bell. But good thinking." She scolded then praised him.
"After that, we found a cave to hide in before we made our final stand. It was an extremely tough fight. But I was able to rip off its shell for Gale Wind to finish it off with her magic spell. When it was dead we were about to die as well before the Xenos picked us up and brought us up to the surface."
"I didn't hear this till after but Mari's blood saved us long enough to get to Airmid for her to heal us. And that's it."
When he was finished Aiz took a moment to think about all the things she had heard. After a minute she spoke.
"Why are you pushing yourself so hard?"
Bell seemed confused when he heard her ask this before he smiled. "Didn't I tell you before that I'm trying to become stronger to catch up to someone?"
"And this person… They are worth all of this?" She knew it sounded insensitive but she couldn't express herself in any other way. Bell just smiled more and looked towards something in the distance.
"Yes. They are worth this and so much more. I want to catch up to her as quickly as possible and when I do I want to tell her something."
"What do you want to say?"
"I want her to know that ever since I met her she has stolen my heart and soul. That I love her with all my being and that's why I want to catch up to her. She's far away but I want her to turn around and look at me. So I can tell her all of this."
When Aiz heard that her heart skipped a beat. She knew about Bell's goal but she didn't realize how passionate he was about it. She knew he wouldn't tell her if she asked who. That was something he would only tell the one he loved in person. So she said something else.
"It seems you always have the craziest adventurers Bell. I would like to tell you to not push yourself, but I know you can't help it." She paused for a moment before making up her mind. "So I'll do everything I can to help you. Let's go train."
"Huh? Now?" He asked amazed that she would want to train now.
"Yes, do you not want to?"
"No, I would love to." He replied as he got up. "Let me go get my equipment and then we can go to our training spot.
With that said he took off leaving her at the tree. Aiz just watched him leave with a smile. She was okay with this for now. But Aiz was an adventurer. She was greedy. Eventually, she would want to know even more about Bell. What he did before he arrived in Orario, what he does in his daily life, and most importantly who was this girl who he loved. She felt like she was close to realizing something, but for now, this smile was enough, she thought to herself as she saw Bell running back to her.
—
Welf was finishing the story of how they got rescued by the Xenos when Mikoto interrupted him.
"Um guys, I just felt Sir Bell leave the premises." She awkwardly said.
"What!?" Hestia screamed and ran to the window trying to find them.
She wasn't able to see them at all. Knowing that Bell most likely wasn't coming back for a while. Lilly sighed. During this commotion, Finn started speaking.
"It's fine. If I had to guess, he and Aiz went to go do some training." He chuckled as he imagined Aiz dragging the poor boy away.
"Is that fine?" Loki asked. "Didn't we have more to learn from the rabbit?"
"We can just ask Aiz later. Besides, we already learned the most important things." He replied. After he said that he stopped talking and looked at his thumb as he started thinking. Lilly, who knew he was thinking something, asked what he had on his mind.
"…Would the Hestia Familia be interested in a joint expedition past the 59th Floor?"
When he said that everyone stared at him with his charming smile in shock.
"WHAT!?" They all screamed at him. Loki was the first one to yell at him.
"What the hell are you thinking Finn!? Like I want my kids to go to the dungeon with Shrimps Familia!" She yelled at him for his ridiculous idea.
Hestia turned on Loki. "Big words for such a small-chested person!"
"Huh!?" Seeing as the two goddesses were about to start fighting, Haruhime and Riveria dragged their respective goddesses away. Seeing that that problem was taken care of Lilly turned to Finn.
"Lilly must ask, what makes you want to team with us? As a familia, we haven't even explored the deep levels and besides Bell, most of us are level 2. Surely there are other familias you can ask if you need support." She said, trying to find Finn's angle.
Finn just smiled as he spread out his hands. "I think you're underestimating you guys a little much. Ignoring Bell for the moment the rest of you are in no way weak or useless. Let me explain."
"Your blacksmith can forge magic blades that will never break. Do you know how useful that will be on an expedition? Not to mention his smithing abilities. Your mage also has one of the rarest and most powerful spells I've ever seen in level boosting." When he saw their shocked faces he clarified.
"Don't worry. We won't tell anyone about your secrets thanks to all the help you guys did during the Knossos incident. Moving on, Eternal Shadow's skill will be extremely useful for detecting monsters. And you, Lilly, your leadership skills are nothing to joke about."
While they were stunned at the level of praise they got from the one and only Braver, Finn just smiled and stood up.
"We of course will protect you guys on the journey. Just think about it. It's just an offer and you guys can't make this decision without your captain anyway. But I believe this will be beneficial for both sides."
—-
From the top room of Babel, a certain deity looked at the scene beneath her. The scene reflected in her eyes showed two warriors fighting. One rushed the other, showering her with attacks. But they were all parried and used to launch her counterattacks. The boy would dash away and try to attack from another angle. This repeated multiple times before the boy fell. When that happened the girl would sit down and put the boy on her lap.
While this was interesting the goddess was more interested in their souls than what they were doing.
The boy's soul that had captivated her was still as beautiful as ever. It was possibly even more beautiful than ever as his pure soul shined so brightly. But for once she was more interested in the soul besides him. It was a sharp golden soul that showcased the owner perfectly. Single-minded towards a goal that would let nothing get in its way, a weapon. Or at least that was how it used to be. Now she saw the edges of her soul softening as it became a purer gold than before.
If she looked closer she could see the two souls intertwining, as if they were calling out for each other. When she saw that her pretty face turned down in a frown. The goddess called out to the person by herself.
"Ottar?"
"Yes, Lady Freya?" The man stepped closer to her as he replied. He was a mountain of a man. Tall with bulky muscles he seemed to be utterly unmovable.
The woman, Goddess Freya, turned to look at her favorite child.
"Tell me, what do you think of that?" She asked, pointing to the two people on the wall. Ottar looked at them as they started up their training again. After watching them for a minute he answered.
"They have both grown much stronger. The girl was always strong but she is seeking another type of strength now that she has surpassed her foe. The boy is unrecognizable from the time with the Black Minotaur. I would say he needs only one more push to become level 5."
Freya sighed when she heard that. "That's not what I meant," but she looked happy to hear the boy was becoming stronger, "I suppose I should have expected that from you."
As she chuckled looking at Ottar's confused face she turned back to the girl.
"It is a bit earlier than I expected but I think it's time to get that girl out of the picture."
As she said that, Ottar's face became harsh. "Do you wish to crush the Loki Familia?"
Ottar knew it wouldn't be easy to fight them, but if it was what his goddess wanted he would destroy them all.
She just laughed again at his guess. "No, the guild is still mad at us about the Ishtar incident so we have to behave. And besides, there are far easier ways to break them apart."
Upon seeing Ottar's blank face she smiled evilly as she told him her plan.
"They both might be strong adventurers, but they are still children. Their bond is still in its fragile stage. It will just take one move at the right time and I won't have to worry about that girl taking my cute little rabbit ever again."
—-
Notes: This was my longest chapter yet, I hope it turned out well. If you notice any mistakes let me know pls. I have a general idea of where I'm going to take the story next. The next chapter will be in Bell's POV and will deal with a certain scheming goddess. I also came up with a new story and am going to start writing it. I won't post it for a while. It will be Bell x Aiz x someone else and I hope you guys will like it.