"Kuuuuuh..."

"Ahm..."

"Kuuuh..."

"Lefiya?"

"Mmmmh..."

"Lefiya, are you okay?"

Ryu stood a bit worried next to her young familia member. And Lefiya looked really unhappy.

"Kuuh...I can´t get married anymore..."

"Huh?"

"It´s too shameful..."

"Lefiya?"

A very cheerfull voice interrupted Lefiya´s and Ryu´s talk.

"Ah don´t worry Lefi, he just groped your butt a bit, this isn´t much."

"Of course it is much! He put his hands on my body!"

"He wasn´t really awake anymore, you have seen his eyes, completely unfocused, you know how an approaching mind down looks like."

"Then why did he moved his hands like that?!"

"I heard him mumble something about a pillow."

"I am not Bell Cranel´s pillow!"

"But it wasn´t the first time that he slept on your thighs?"

"Irgh..."

Ryu´s expression was confused, embarrassed and a bit dark.

"Still, even when he has a mind down, he shouldn´t do something like that."

"Ryu trust me, he was out of his mind. If Lefiya hadn´t catch him, he would´ve hit his head on a stone or the ground. By the way, it was quite cute to see how you jumped forward to catch him, Lefiya."

"I didn´t jump forward!"

Alise rolled her eyes. "Okay, you only stepped forward. Doesn´t change the fact that you caught him."

"I didn´t think much about it, I just wanted to prevent that he got more hurt than he already was."

Alise´s smiled widened to a grin without saying something.

"W-What?"

Alise just grinned.

"What? Say something, captain!"

"Mwehehe, never thought I would see a true Tsundere."

"I am not a Tsundere!"

Astrea had told them about a few words of the language of the gods.

"Mhm, yeah sure. Also, don´t you think he kind of deserved it?"

"What?!"

"I mean he fought the Goliath alone to give his party the chance to escape, he blinded it and then escaped, drained of all of his energy. Isn´t it fair that an elven maiden let´s him rest on her thighs and that he gets to grope something soft?"

"But why me?!"

"Well it happens often lately, maybe he likes you?"

"Auuu...don´t call it often.."

"Alise, don´t tease Lefiya so much."

"Aw Ryu, you are too soft to your juniors. Also, just touching your butt once isn´t such a big thing, in fact he just touched your skirt and not your skin directly."

"I am an elf, for me this is very shameful!"

"Do you know about the things I did to Ryu in my sleep over the years? This is nothing."

"What?!"

"Aliiise!"

"Why are you two sleeping in one bed?! *Gasp!* Don´t tell me you two are..."

Alise suddenly looked really shy. "Oops...it looks like it is out now..."

"What?! Really?!"

Ryu got deep red instantly. "No we are not! Alise, stop joking around like that! Someone will misunderstand you!"

"*Sniff* How cold of you Ryu, I thought we had something special..."

Lefiya clapped her hands over her mouth, looking back and forth between Ryu and Alise. "A forbidden love?!"

"No, it is not! Alise, this isn´t funny anymore!"

Alise finally started to laugh in her usual way.

"Sorry, sorry. Enough teasing Ryu now. And for your information, Lefi. No, Ryu and I are not a couple. But apparently I move around very much in my sleep. Sometimes in the dungeon it happens during an Expedition, that Ryu and I sleep next to each other, so sometimes I touched her body by accident."

Alise wouldn´t tell Lefiya about the nights when she slept side by side with Ryu in her room. These nights were special since Ryu needed the comfort and even Alise wouldn´t joke about the nightmares that Ryu had.

"Oh, okay."

"Why do you look disappointed?"

"I don´t!"

"Are you sure you are not thinking about that right now?"

"Am not!"

Ryu sighed. "Could you please tell me what happened while I was in the forest?"

Lefiya started to explain, she got red again when she came to the part when Bell fainted and fell onto her.

Ryu nodded a few times. "And you acted without thinking to prevent him getting hurt. Lady Astrea will be very proud of you."

"And you...are not?"

Lefiya glanced shyly to Ryu, most of the familia members knew how much she looked up to her idol.

Ryu smiled gently. "I'm proud, but I don't think I have the right to say that, it would put me above you somehow."

Alise winked. "Ryu, you are her captain in a way."

"Alise...not again."

"Lady Astrea gave you this special rank, are you defying our goddess?"

"No..."

"It still makes me happy!" Lefiya beamed.

Alise continued now to explain what happened after Bell had groped Lefiya´s butt. He was the only of his party that had fainted, but the others were hurt and exhausted. So the Astrea familia brought them to their camp.

But why was the Astrea familia on the 18th floor? Their Expedition had ended and they camped here for a day on their way back. They took their time to visit the grave of their three deceased familia members. The only one who wasn´t present was Neze, as promised, she ran ahead to tell Astrea that everything went well.

The three slowly walked to the tent that they led the Miach familia.

"I tell you Lefiya, it was most likely an accident, I don´t think that he is a guy that gropes a girl when he sees a chance."

"Mhh...maybe."

Alise opened the curtain to the enormous tent. "Trust me on th-...Oh."

"Hm?" Ryu looked inside...and got deep red.

Lefiya looked curious. "What i-...Kya!"

Only two people were inside the tent, Haruhime and Bell.

Haruhime turned her face to the three, she got very red instantly.

"I-I-I-It isn´t what you think it is!"

"""Giiiii..."""

"P-Please don´t jump to false conclusions!"

Haruhime sat on her legs in the far eastern way, Bell was unconcious, but leaned forward onto her body. His face burried in her bosom...

The question was, how did this happen?

.

.

A few minutes earlier.

.

.
"Bell..."

Haruhime sat worried next to the still sleeping Bell. She was glad that the Astrea familia was there when they arrived on the floor and helped them immediatelly. They had healed Chigusa first and then the others. But Bell had a mind down and they couldn´t heal that, they had to wait. Haruhime was still really worried about him. She couldn´t leave his side, her heart didn´t allowed it. It was easier when he was unconcious, Haruhime gathered all her courage and gently started to carress his hair.

Bell...I love you.

It was so easy to say it in her mind, but with her mouth and especially to Bell when he was awake...that was not so easy.
Her face grew warm when she looked at his lips.

Hauuu...

Her three tails started to move, Haruhime was glad that the Astrea familia healed her broken tail. She was ashamed of her own thoughts. Stealing his lips in his sleep was out of question, but she would love to kiss Bell.

"Nnnnn..."

"Bell?!"

"Nnn...ow..."

"Bell, are you okay?"

She noticed his eyes opening slightly. "Haru...hime?"

Haruhime had small tears in her eyes, happy that he seemed to be okay.

"Yes, I am here. We are all here, everyone is safe because of you."

Then suddenly, Bell moved up fast.

"Real-Irgh..."

The movement was too fast for his head, his vision got dark again and he fell forward.

"Bell!"

Haruhime moved out of instinct, catching Bell in her arms. But...not really in her arms. Bell landed with his face directly between her breasts, the two soft, big mounds became a wonderful, nice smelling pillow for him. If Bell would´ve been a pervert, this would surely be his lucky day.

Eh?

She stopped moving, looking at Bell´s peaceful face. A really strange feeling came up in Haruhime...this felt nice. Slowly, to not wake her hero up, Haruhime gently closed her arms around Bell´s head and held him.

Bell mumbled something, which let Haruhime shiver comfortably, his arms slowly closed around her too.

This feels go-Kya!

He snuggled a bit up to her, probably thinking that her bosom really was a pillow.

Auuu...this is embarrassing...but if he wants to do that...no, there is an order of steps to be made...but...it feels so nice...auu...D-Does he like breasts?...My breasts?

For now, Haruhime just held him and allowed him to get the rest that he needed. She was just a bit happy that she had the chance to hold him like this, that it wasn´t Lefiya who he fell onto this time.

Then the curtain got opened.

""Trust me on th-...Oh."

Haruhime had a lot to explain afterwards, but she really wanted to experience how it felt for Lefiya to hold Bell like this.

And it was very nice.

.

.
It was strange and a bit like magic, but the contact with Haruhime helped Bell to regain his strength faster, it was similar when his body had touched Lefiya´s. Were it women in general or just these two?

When Bell finally woke up completely, they explained to him again that everyone was safe. He slowly followed Haruhime out of the big tent.

"Wow, so this is the 18th floor?"

"Yes, we somehow made it."

He was fascinated by the sight, it was hard to believe that they were inside the dungeon. The 18th floor was really beautiful with the forests, hills and even small lakes and rivers.

The camp wasn´t that big, the Astrea familia only had three tents. One for the elves, one of the non-elf party members that snored and the last one for the non-elf party members that didn´t snore. Bell didn´t want to believe that a woman could snore. Maybe just some cute, small, very adorable, little snore.

But since they all were really very decent, they left one of the big tents to the rescued party. Snoring and non-snoring members would sleep together. And there would be a lot of small objects thrown at the snoring ones at night...

Bell was really fascinated by the familia that had only female members.

"Ladies, attention!"

"Huh?"

Bell turned around when he heard a loud voice, it was the red haired captain of the Astrea familia.

"Sleeping Beauty woke up."

His cheeks felt warm when he heard more than a few chuckles. But it weren´t only the Astrea familia members that came when Alise called out. He saw his party members and the Takemikazuchi party members as well. Thankfully, Chigusa could walk on her own again.

"Sir Bell!"

"Bell!"

"Master Bell!"

"Mr. Bell!"

"Boss!"

The two parties came directly to him and Haruhime.

"Are you okay?!"

"Thank the gods you woke up again."

"Man, Bell. You really scared us when you collapsed."

"I am okay, just a bit tired. Is everyone okay?"

Welf grinned. "Thanks to you, that was quite the show how you distracted the Goliath. Your magic is really something."

Bell shook his head. "This was thanks to Haruhime´s magic. I can´t do this just on my own."

Mikoto´s eyes shone. "That was so brave of you, sir Bell! As a warrior, I am deeply touched by your courage! And that magic was so pretty and strong, Haruhime! How you two worked together, magnificent! You two really make a good team!"

Haruhime noticed that Mikoto put special emphasis on the last words.

Lena nodded eagerly. "It was really quite the show. To think that a level two was able to do more than just scratch the Goliath, awesome. And I have to agree with our ninja samurai here, you two really make a good "team"."

The amazon winked to Haruhime.

Bell´s eyes wandered to Chigusa. "Are you okay? You were badly wounded."

"It´s okay now...thank you."

Ouka went forward and held his hand towards Bell.

"Bell Cranel...Dragonboy...I-"

"""""Pffft! Ahahahahahaha!""""""

More than one member of the Astrea familia started to laugh when they heard Bell´s alias. Ryu looked ashamed about the reaction of her familia members, Lefiya was kind enough to turn away and hid her amused smile.

"Ahem, I would like to offer you my honest thanks. You saw that we were in danger and didn´t hesitate to help and save us. The normal choice for a dungeon party would be to run and leave us, especially since we led monsters towards you. Thank you."

Bell shook his head. "You are Haruhime´s dear friends, there was no way we could leave you there. We only did what was the right thing to do."

Mikoto and Chigusa stepped next to Ouka.

"We still would like to thank you, Mr. Cranel. Without you and Ouka...I..."

"Chigusa is right, Sir Bell! We led monsters towards your party and you helped us! Your party saved us!"

They had already thanked the others and apologized to them, but Bell as the party leader had given the order to save them. At the same time, Chigusa, Ouka and Mikoto went down to one knee.

As the leader, it was Ouka that talked. "We owe you our lives and we swear an oath to repay this debt to you! On our honor!"

""On our honor!""

Bell caught a glimpse of a smirking Kaguya at the side, Haruhime looked at him in a special way.

"I accept your oath and will remember it. I promise to you I won´t demand anything in return that would stain your honor."

After the Takemikazuchi familia got back to their feet, Bell and Ouka shook hands again.

And to ruin this perfect moment, Bell´s stomach started to growl.

.

.
"So, everyone is awake and safe. I think we should eat something, since you don´t have much with you, we will invite you."

"Is this okay, Ms. Phoenix?"

"Just say Alise. And of course it is okay, we have more than enough food anyway. Also, Leon would be mad with me if we would just sent you away."

"Of course I would, it wouldn´t be the just thing to do."

"See?" Alise winked.

Bell smiled slightly. "It feels a bit strange, we continue to run into your familia so often lately."

"Well more you than your familia, I wonder why? Maybe there is a reason?"

Maybe a reason with pointy ears?

Alise had noticed that Bell glanced to Lefiya now and then. Lefiya didn´t notice it, since her eyes were locked onto someone else, the backside of someone else.

"Hm, I feel really hungry for some reason, but it isn´t even noon."

"Huh? It´s already afternoon, you slept for a few hours."

"What?"

"Yeah, that´s normal when you have a mind down."

"Did you ever had a mind down?"

"Once, but that was long ago." Alise shrugged her shoulders.

Bell saw that not only the Astrea familia had been cooking, Haruhime and Mikoto had helped them.

"To think that you made it to the 18th floor on your first trip to the middle floors, impressive."

"We didn´t plan to do it."

"Still, not bad. And just like I guessed, killing that black dragon thing let you level up, correct?"

"Yes, but it was a hard fight."

"I know, I was there. It fired us all up to give our best."

"Hm?"

"What? My blood started to boil when I watched your fight. Hah, if you were ten years older I might take interest in you."

Alise´s grin went to a chuckle when she saw how Bell blushed.

"Wh-What?"

"Awww, you´re cute."

Kaguya strolled towards them. "Alise likes to tease people a bit, don´t think too much into it."

"Okay."

"But I have to agree with her, you are quite the looker. *slrp*"

Kaguya really did it...she licked her lips.

"A-Ahm..."

The far eastern woman showed Bell a naughty grin. "You came into a camp of a familia that has only female members...what do you think will happen to you now, hm? We won´t let you sleep tonight!"

"Eeek!"

Bell backed away, panicked.

To Bell´s luck, a saint arrived.

"Captain! Ms. Kaguya! This behaviour is shameless!"

"Oh, Lefi, now that was fast."

Lefiya only looked shortly to Bell before she stopped in front of Alise and Kaguya.

"This kind of behaviour can´t be tolerated. You two are shameful and this would let lady Astrea look bad."

"Hoh, quite bold of you, Lefi."

"Hmmm, our young on learns how to bark."

It looked like the two had found a new target, but Lefiya didn´t back away. Bell didn´t know what to do, but he wouldn´t run away.

"Ahm, I guess it was just a joke, sh-shall we drop it and eat something?"

"No, Bell Cranel. Even for a joke, this went too far."

Alise chuckled. "I guess you are right, sorry. Sometimes I go a bit too far."

"Hmmm~~~" Kaguya looked like a cat that just found a mouse.

"Alise, Kaguya..."

Kaguya´s smiled widened when she turned to Ryu, who just arrived. Bell saw for the first time how Ryu looked like when she was angry, quite fearsome.

"Hehe, don´t worry Leon, we are just fooling around a bit."

Alise and Kaguya waved over their shoulders when they walked away.

"I would like to apologize for their behaviour, Mr. Cranel. They love to tease people a bit too much sometimes."

"It´s okay, don´t worry."

Bell looked at Lefiya and smiled.

"Thank you for stepping in."

"Don´t mind it, I just did what Justice demanded."

"Still, thank you."

"L-Let us eat now."

Bell watched how Lefiya turned around and fled towards the black haired elf. Was it just his imagination or did she covered her butt with her staff when she turned around?

"I´m sorry, Mr. Cranel. Many of us are not used to talk to men."

"I should be the one to apologize, I should really learn how to talk back to people and don´t get so easily flustered all the time."

Ryu smiled very slightly. "I think it is okay to stay the way you are. Come now."

Bell followed Ryu, he noticed that the black haired elf glared a bit at Bell.

"Ms. Lyon?"

"Yes?"

"Did I do something? I have the feeling that a few of your familia members don´t like me."

"When you fainted, you fell onto Lefiya."

"What?!"

"Yes."

"Oh, I need to apologize to her, I heard that something like that isn´t okay for elves."

"It is good that you want to apologize to her for that, but wait after the dinner, okay?"

"Yes. Oh, that reminds me...we need to inform our god and lord Takemikazuchi."

And Mom...

"It should be okay, a familia member of us, Neze, went to the surface to tell our goddess that everything went well. She will also tell your god what happened."

"Ah, thank you so much."

"Not for that. It is never good to have a god or goddess worried. We know that from lady Astrea and telling god Miach that you all are okay is the least we can do."

"Thank you. Hm, now that I think about it, why are you staying on the 18th floor in the first place? Instead of going back to the surface, you were in the dungeon for two weeks or so, right?"

"Yes we were. We like it here on the 18th and we also stay for a day after every Expedition, to visit three familia members of us."

"To they live here on the 18th floor?"

"No, they live in our hearts."

"Wha-Oh...sorry."

Ryu shook her head. "You couldn´t know that."

"How long are you going to stay here?"

"We will leave tomorrow afternoon, so that we will be back at evening. I already talked to Alise, you can accompany us when we leave, you don´t have much potions and other necessary things left."

"Ehe, it looks like we owe your familia even more."

"No, like Lefiya said, we just did what Justice demanded. You should relax today and tomorrow as much as you can, the 18th floor is the perfect place for that. But you shouldn´t leave the camp tonight, even when the monsters on this floor normally doesn´t attack people, it can still be dangerous."

"Thank you for the warning. Why aren´t you staying in the town over there?"

"It is really expensive and since we have a few elves in our familia, we prefer to camp in the forest."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Also, there are some very nice small lakes and rivers here on the 18th floor."

Bell noticed that Ryu´s eyes shone a bit when she said that. His grandfather told him that elves liked to bath in forests.

.

.

"So everyone, let's celebrate our safe return from the deep levels. Plus the amazing performance of our new friends. Cheers!"

""""Cheers!""""

The dinner with the Astrea familia became a small party. Since they really had more than enough food, they went all out. Bell was surprised to even see fresh meat in form of chicken.

"Where did you get this?"

"Rivira. Someone was crazy enough to bring a few chickens and bunnies from the surface down here. They breed them and sell eggs and meat, but the prize is crazy."

Alise pointed at a pot with a stew in it, rabbit stew.

"And you pay the price?"

"Not directly, we exchange items from the deep levels that we don´t need that much. There are advantages to being one of two familia exploring the deep levels."

"But still, when it is so expensive..."

Alise winked. "Good food raises the morale, we were in the deep levels for a long time, we deserve it. Also, since only we an the Loki familia get our hands on the stuff from the deep levels, we make the price for them. They think their stuff is expensive, but if they don´t agree to our terms, we just sell everything on the surface."

"Oh."

Lyra, who sat close to them grinned. "It is my job to trade our stuff for food in Rivira."

"And Lyra is really good with these things. Ryana manages our familia´s money, but Lyra is a demon when it comes to trading."

"You flatter me, captain."

Haruhime sat down next to Bell, holding something in her hands.

"Bell, would you like to try one of these?"

She held a small fruit towards him.

"What is this?"

"A dungeon gift. These fruits grow here on the 18th floor. I heard that other fruits grow deeper down."

"Oh!"

Alfia had told him about these dungeon gifts. Deeper down than even the Loki familia went, was a floor like a giant forest, where even something like vegetables grew. But he couldn´t tell that anyone.

"They taste really good."

Bell carefully took the fruit from Haruhime and after smelling it, he took a small bite.

"Uärgh...so sweet..."

He shivered, Bell wasn´t a fan of sweets.

"You don´t like it?"

"No, too sweet for my taste."

"Oh...if...if you don´t want it...I could..."

"Thank you, it would be a waste to throw it away."

Bell gave her the rest of the fruit, he didn´t notice that Haruhime´s cheeks turned pink and her breath went faster. Lena, Mikoto, Lily, Chigusa and a few women of the Astrea familia watched amazed how Haruhime slowly raised the fruit.

Th-This will be a indirect kiss! Hauuuu! Do I dare it? I-*Nom*

Her instinct was faster than her mind, she ate the rest. All three of her tails rose and moved excited, while she had flushed cheeks, Haruhime was really happy at the moment.

"Ahm."

Lefiya slowly raised her hand.

"Hm?"

"I´m sorry if this is too intimate to ask, but why do you have three tails now?"

It got clear that more than one member of the Astrea familia wanted to ask this question. There was no way they wouldn´t have noticed that Haruhime had three tails.

"I don´t really know what happened, a bit over a week ago, my tail felt strange and hurt quite a bit. In the night I felt really weird and my body got hot, when it ended, I had three tails."

"Wow, and they all work normally?"

Haruhime nodded and slowly raised her tails, moving them one by one, then all together. It had taken her a while to move them how she wanted.

Kaguya smirked while she eyed Haruhime´s tails. "You are full of surprises, noble lady. I have never even heard of any kind of animal person that had more than one tail. It is quite the sight."

Ryu cleared her throat. "You shouldn´t stare so openly, Kaguya. It is rude to look at the body of someone else like that."

Haruhime smiled. "It is okay, it draws in a lot of attention."

Kaguya continued. "I bet the gods keep courting you."

"Quite a bit, but I declined all of their offers. My place is at Bell´s si-...I mean in the Miach familia."

"You should still be careful, some gods doesn´t accept a no as an answer. Some can become very persistent and pushy. These gods are not interested in you as a person, only that your body is really unusual."

"I will be careful, my familia is protecting me."

Alise frowned a bit, which was unusual for her. "Try your best to don´t get the attention of lady Freya or god Apollo."

Her familia members nodded with grim faces, especially when she mentioned the male god.

"I only heard a few rumors about lord Apollo."

"Most of them are true. Our familias are on bad terms with each other."

Bell joined the conversation. "Why that?"

"Lady Astrea doesn´t like how he treats mortals. She's pretty sure a lot of his familia didn't join him of their own free will. However, he insists that every member has at some point asked permission to join him."

Lyra grinned. "He even wanted to scout Filvis, Neze and our captain at some point."

"He asked you to leave your familia?!"

"Yes, but we declined. He was fascinated by Filvis´ haircolor. Oh by the way, if you make fun about that, I will personally beat you to a pulp after Lefiya has done this."

Bell noticed that even when Alise smiled, that this wasn´t a joke of her.

"I would never do this, how could anyone ever do that?"

"Twelf people did it over the years, all of them regretted it."

"That was very rude of them, it is such a pretty colo-"

"Bell Cranel, don´t you dare try to flirt with my big sister!"

Lefiya moved in front of Filvis, to shield her from Bell´s eyes.

"That wasn´t my intention."

"Good."

Alise continued as if nothing had happened.

"As I said, we declined. He was fascinated by Filvis´ hair, Neze´s skin and haircolor and apparently my hair and appearance too. Lady Astrea also told god Apollo that he should let it go and don´t harass us. But he didn´t want to listen. A few of his followers showed up at our home when we were in the dungeon. They didn´t do anything in particular, but the message was clear, we don´t have enough members to be around our lady all the time."

"What happened then?"

"I slapped god Apollo at a party."

"You WHAT?!"

There was a party for the gods, they should bring their captains along. He came over to talk to our lady and I didn´t like his tone and how he looked at lady Astrea. So I slapped him one time and warned him to never let his children get close to the Stardust Garden or our lady ever again."

The Miach familia and Welf were all pretty shocked.

"You slapped a god?!"

"Yes, he deserved it. No one threatens our goddess. I would´ve slapped him a second time, but lady Astrea ordered me to stand down. Our familias are on bad terms with each other ever since then. But they keep their distance, god Apollo or his children aren´t such fools that they would mess with us and the Ganesha familia."

"Why the Ganesha familia?"

"Our lady and lord Ganesha have something going on."

"They are a couple?"

"I guess you could call it that. I don´t know if such a term applies to the gods. In an case, whenever our familia is in the dungeon, a few of lord Ganesha´s children guard the Stardust Garden and our lady."

"I wonder why so many familias and their gods have problems with each other."

"The gods aren´t that different from us mortals in many cases, so they quarrel, it keeps their lives spicy. Some even declare that lady Astrea isn´t the most beautiful, precious, gentle and loving one of them all!"

Lyra laughed. "I guess Rethusa will say something else!"

"Tch!"

"Who is...Rethusa?"

Lyra grinned while Alise growled. "The captain of lady Artemis´ familia. She and Alise quarrel all the time which goddess is more precious and all the other stuff."

"It´s obviously lady Astrea!"

"I know, tell her that."

"I will get through to her one day! No offense for lady Artemis..."

The dinner continued and the members of the Astrea familia chatted with the other party. Normally it was unusual that different familias got along so well, but somehow it just worked.

Eventually they were finished and it was time to sleep.

"Laurier, Ryana, can you two take the first watch?"

""Okay.""

Alise turned to Bell. "You can all go to sleep, we will guard the camp tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we are used to this and don´t get me wrong, but you are all pretty exhausted and I can´t entrust the safety of my familia to exhausted people."

"I understand."

"Sadly you all have to share the one big tent, we don´t have enough place to let you separate men and women."

"This won´t be a problem."

Since only Welf, Ouka and Bell were male, they didn´t need much room in the big tent. .

.

.

Mh...it´s...still night?

Bell blinked as he woke up, everything was still dark. He heard the soft breathing of his familia and party members. The amazon of the Astrea familia, Iska, lent Lena a few clothes, since her own were mostly damaged. Bell heard Lily groaning exhausted in her sleep. Lyra, the prum of the Astrea familia, was pretty interested in Lily, sharing a bit of her combat experience with Lily.

Hm, I guess I´ll go outside and walk around a bit.

He got up carefully to not wake anyone up. Bell noticed how Haruhime and Lena slept. Haruhime´s camp bed was between Mikoto´s and Lena´s. She had turned towards Mikoto, this way her tails were on Lena´s side. The amazon smiled happy in her sleep, the tails were like a small blanket for her. And again Bell wished he could swap places with Lena.

The night on the 18th floor was really beautiful, the crystals in the cave ceiling looked almost like stars. It wasn´t as quiet as he thought it would be, there was even a gentle wind moving softly. This whole floor was basically a giant cave, but it was so big that wind formed naturally.

No fire was burning in the middle of the camp, it was pretty dark.

He heard a faint whisper.

"Can´t sleep, Bell Cranel?"

"Ms. Viridis?"

"Yes."

Close to the fireplace, he barely saw a figure sitting on a tree log, a blanket wrapped around her.

"Is it your turn to watch?"

"Mine and Filvis´, she is outside of the camp, watching the stars for now, since everything is quiet."

Lefiya wouldn´t explain what that sentence really meant.

"Is it okay if I sit down too?"

"Feel free."

Bell didn´t sat down directly next to Lefiya, but left a bit room between them.

"This floor is really beautiful at night."

"I agree."

"It is hard to believe that we are inside the dungeon."

"Mhm, it is a safe floor after all, there are a few others deeper down in the dungeon. But I like this one here the most."

"Was it dangerous in the deep levels?"

"It was, but we were careful, we always are."

"I heard that at some point, the dungeon gets really ruff and less beautiful."

"Some floors look like a hellish landscape, but others deep down don´t. It is dangerous of course, but for example the 50th floor looks a bit like this one here. This place is pretty and peaceful, since only we and the Loki familia are able to go down there."

"What about the Freya familia?"

"They don´t have an exploring dungeon party as far as I know."

"I hope I can see this floor one day too and even go further down."

"Maybe in a few years."

Both went silent for a while.

"Ms. Viridis, I would like to thank you again for the times when you saved me."

Bell couldn´t see it in the darkness, but Lefiya smiled slightly.

"I did what most people should do."

"Oh, and I would like to apologize for yesterday. Ms. Alise told me I fell onto you when I collapsed."

Now Lefiya got red again.

"It´s okay, it wasn´t your fault..."

Bell´s eyes got more and more used to the darkness, he could only really see her head since she had the blanket wrapped around her.

She is so beautiful.

He wished he had the courage to tell her that.

"I am also thankful to your whole familia, I don´t want to imagine what would´ve happened without you."

"We were at the right place at the right time."

They went quiet again, Bell didn´t know what they could talk about. At some point both sat down on the gras, leaning with their backs against the tree trunk. He noticed that Lefiya´s ears twitched slightly one time, then he heard the curtain of his familia´s tent getting opened and closed afterwards.

"Bell? Ms. Viridis?"

It was Haruhime, she woke up when Bell left the tent. She had excellent night vision, but could also hear where Bell and Lefiya sat.

"You can´t sleep too?"

"I am not that tired."

Being close to Bell was the best kind of rest for Haruhime, but she couldn´t say that loud.

Haruhime moved to the tree trunk and sat down between Bell and Lefiya after they moved a bit away from each other to make room for her. When Haruhime sat down, her tails curled on both sides of her, she used the middle one like a muff to keep her hands warm. One of them touched Lefiya´s hand slightly for a second, the feeling wasn´t unpleasant for the elf.

Lefiya felt a bit strange when Haruhime sat down next to her, there was a scent following the fox woman, a very nice scent. She felt at ease when she smelled it...and it pulled a memory up in her. A memory of her home forest, of spring meadows...and the strangely comfortable shiver that shot through her body when Bell fell on her thighs and put his arms around her...

What is happening with me?

Lefiya glanced from Haruhime to Bell, she was by no means disgusted by them. They talked about nothing in particular for a while, Lefiya felt really at ease...

.

.
What...do I do now?

Filvis had returned to the camp and whispered Lefiya´s name, but no reaction came. When she went to the place where her little sister sat, Filvis stopped. The scenery in front of her was not normal and Filvis wasn´t sure how to react. Lefiya wasn´t alone at the tree trunk, the fox woman and the white haired human of the Miach familia sat there with her. All three were asleep. The fox girl´s head had moved to the side and leaned against the shoulder of the human, one of her tails covered his hands to keep them warm.
Lefiya lay on her side, her cheek resting on the thighs of the fox woman.

How did this happen? Did they do it on purpose? But so touch each other like that?...Lefiya?! Wh-What is the meaning of this? What shall I do?!

As a good big sister, Filvis should probably wake Lefiya up, so that no one else would see this moment. But then again, maybe they had done this on purpose, then she would ruin Lefiya´s moment.

But to touch another person so openly like that, it was pretty...lewd.

Filvis sat down on another tree trunk and watched the three sleeping. She had no experience when it came to love, so Filvis couldn´t say if Lefiya liked these two or not. Filvis just knew that Lefiya ran into them again and again by chance over the last two months. She saw that one of Haruhime´s tails curled around Lefiya´s shoulders, which let Filvis´ little sister smile in her sleep.

Maybe...because she is asleep?

As an elf, Filvis was much like Lefiya and every other elf that she knew, they had trouble to show their feelings of affection openly. Maybe Lefiya's subconscious was honest when she slept?

What Filvis couldn´t see, the reason why Lefiya smiled was the dream she got after Haruhime´s tail curled around her shoulders. In her dream she was walking with Haruhime and Bell through the forest again, where they had searched for the unicorn. Again they sat together and gently caressed the holy beast.

It was a really nice dream.

Filvis waited as long as she could, but at some point it was time to wake the next two, to take over. She crouched down in front of Lefiya, making sure to not touch the fox woman. Filvis put her hand gently on Lefiya´s waist and shook her carefully.

"Lefiya."

No reaction.

Filvis leaned forward.

"Lefiya."

Still no reaction, but Lefiya´s smile widened a bit, she looked really cute.

Argh...I have no choice...

Filvis leaned forward, her mouth was centimeters away from Lefiya´s ear. She would have to do something that was usually only okay when she was alone with Lefiya...using her nickname.

"Lefi...my little one."

"Mmmmnhlgrl...Fil...vis?"

Lefiya mumbled in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.

"Mornin´ already?"

"It´s time to go to sleep, our watch is over."

"Mmhkay...wha-Eep!"

Lefiya squeaked slightly when she noticed what she used as a pillow. Her ears and face went crimson.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Why are we..am I sleeping like that?"

"I found you three like this."

"Mmmmmh!"

Lefiya got up immediatelly and turned to their tent, her heart raced and she felt ashamed. She rememberred the dream she had, that it was about spending time with these two.

I...might have a problem...

.

.

The following day was nice, the Astrea familia showed them various small lakes that they could use to bath in. Men and women bathed of course separated from each other and no incidents happened. Even when they were all beauties, no man in his right mind would dare to peek on any member of the Astrea familia. The women of the Takemikazuchi and Miach familia bathed with them, while Bell, Welf and Ouka guarded the camp. Not all of the women bathed together, the elves separated themself as usual.

When they returned to the camp, Alise grinned.

"Wow, you three really didn´t try to peep on us, impressive."

Welf waved with his hand. "I have my eyes on a woman far more impressive than you."

"Hoooo, a bold statement."

OUka nodded in his manly way. "It wouldn´t be right to do that."

Bell agreed with him.

But before the next question could be asked, a loud voice echoed over to them.

"Lena!...Lena!"

"Nya!" Lena immediatelly jerked up, she knew this voice.

"Lena! You always give me so much trouble, I swear to the gods!"

"Bete Logaaaaaa!"

The amazon dashed off towards the voice.

"There you are, you stupid amazon!"

"Bete Loga, did you came for me?!"

"I heard something that your party went missing."

"And you only came to save me?! I am so happyyyyy!"

"Let me go, I only came because you just escaped death! Don´t make me look for you all the time! Let me go!"

"I won´t let you go! Make me a bunch of babies! Right now!"

"I knew I shouldn´t have come! I had to beat the Goliath alone because of you!"

"You fought the Goliath alone, just for me?! I am the happiest woman alive right now!"

If they wanted to or not, the party listened to the "lovers quarrel".

"Is that her boyfriend?" Alise looked curious.

Bell shrugged his shoulders. "I don´t know...Haruhime?"

"I am...I think she wants him to be that...or something similar."

Lena returned with a happy smile a while later. After Bete made sure she was okay, he returned to the surface.

"Hehe, he is so shy. Eheheheh~~~"

"I wouldn´t call that "shy"."

"But he came only for me...hah...I love him so much..."

.

.
As it became afternoon, the big party went on their way. Just like they said, the Astrea familia moved in front of them and cleared the way for the weaker adventurers. Lefiya glanced with a red face to Bell and Haruhime from time to time.

When they arrived at the surface, Astrea, Takemikazuchi, Miach and even Hephaistos waited for them. The gods were really glad to have their children back, that everyone was healthy and no one hurt.

Takemikazuchi and his children apologized for bringing the others into danger. Dogeza performed four times at once was too much for the others.

It looked like everything was nice and good...

.

.
"Miach! I hereby declare war against you! Agree to a wargame or this here will become much worse!"

When they arrived at their home, the Miach familia found it in ruins, the whole shop and home destroyed. A large crowd of people had gathered there, every single one of them wore the emblem of the Apollo familia...and they had a hostage.

"Mmmmf!"

"NAHZA!"

Nahza was held capture by two members of Apollo´s familia.

"You have something that I want, that I really want! Your beautiful fox maiden over there and your white haired boy! Hand them over to me and this will be done! Or agree to a wargame! It is your choice!"

Bell´s hand immediatelly went to the hilt of Silence.

"Bell, no."

"But they have Nahza!"

"And if you attack they might do something to her."

"Grrrrr."

"I feel you, trust me."

Miach raised his voice. "Apollo, you insist on this?"

"Of course I do! I reaaaaaaally want them."

Apollo licked his lips in a very lewd way.

"Bell...Haruhime...I´m sorry...I have no choice."

"It´s okay, we will help."

"Of course we will!"

They saw that Nahza´s eyes were red from anger and hatred.

"I accept your challenge, Apollo..."

.

.

.

.

"~~~~~Wonderful!~~~~~"

Nearly the whole Apollo familia cheered with their god, with two exceptions. One was a young woman that didn´t like what they were doing, the other was also a young woman, with long black hair, who nearly went mad with fear.

She had the feeling that her god didn´t know what he had just done.

.