"Bell, what do you think this quest will be about?"
"I have no idea, but we have to complete it or lord Miach will get in trouble."
"Mh, I don´t want to move out of the Mansion, we just finished moving in."
"Me too, trust me."
"I just hope what we have with us will be enough."
Bell and Haruhime walked towards the guild, Amid had explained to them that there they would get informations, since it was an official quest. Both didn´t know what awaited them, so Haruhime had her bow and arows with her, also a small staff, while Bell carried Silence and his shield. Both had a backpack each, Haruhime made them lunch and snacks, since they didn´t know how long it would take, so there was plenty of food.
Haruhime looked a bit uneasy. "I am actually more worried about Lily, Ms. Cassandra and Ms. Daphne..."
"Oh yeah, today is...that day."
"Yeah.."
Today, Lily would start her training with Alfia again, more merciless than ever before. Lily used her repaired equipment from the wargame again, together with the spear. Welf already told her, that he wouldn´t be able to repair the spear forever, that at some point, Lily had to get a stronger weapon. But for that they would need money and for that they had set themself a goal.
The Goliath.
Before the wargame, they went down to the 18th floor one time by accident. Now they were stronger, had three new members, two of them at level two. While the fighting ability of Daphne was welcome, as well as a new supporter with Luan, it was actually Cassandra that brought the strongest boost to the group.
A Healer.
Cassandra was capable of using healing magic and that was really something else. Even more since she could heal more than one target at the same time! The whole party was overjoyed to have a healer with them now, with such a large party, they could easily move down to the 18th floor now. And, they could finally dare to challenge a floor boss. Welf was also close to level two, so he worked until his fingers bled. The ability High Smith was only avaiable at level two, so he had to earn this special form of Excelia until then.
But what they would also need was more fire power. Everyone was working hard, but Lily, Daphne and Cassandra especially. Cassandra didn´t have a choice, Alfia forced her to take part in Lily´s training. Whenever Lily got seriously hurt, Cassandra would heal her. This would strengthen her magic and her personality, since Alfia would also attack her from time to time. She told her that the best healer was worthless when that person was afraid of monsters or the dungeon. And because her dear friend was in so much trouble, Daphne decided to also join Alfia´s training regime.
Bell was at first afraid if that training wouldn´t scare Daphne and Cassandra away again, but he couldn´t argue against Alfia. Not because she was his Mom, but because her logic was flawless. Alfia was not even close to be in her prime, her strength was down to a fresh level six, on her bad days even level five. Only when she pushed herself beyond her limits again and unleashed her full strength, she would be the strongest in Orario again.
For about five minutes, then she would die.
Only the constant flow of medicine and healing potions that Alfia received helped a bit, but it didn´t stop her from slowly dying because of her illness.
And due to her weakened state and her ability to hold herself back, Alfia was the perfect mentor for the three. The dungeon wouldn´t be nice and gentle with them, so it was better to train hard than to take it easy and risk everything later.
What Bell didn´t know, Alfia trained completely different with them compared to her training with him. When they dared to talk back, Alfia hit them, to the point where it would be impossible for Daphne and Cassandra to ever really like Alfia.
And there was something else that drove Daphne and Cassandra forward, Haruhime promised to make dinner in the evening, she also had prepared lunch boxes for them and Lily, so they were looking forward to the food. Since Cassandra and Daphne looked up to Haruhime so much, Haruhime would use this against Alfia.
She would show Alfia how capable she was of taking care of people and be a good housewife. Haruhime had declared war on Alfia after all, she would by no means back down. And for the future, it was a bit like taking care of children. Haruhime wouldn´t miss the chance to show Alfia how motherly she could be! So that one day she would bear Bell´s children under her heart! No matter how many he wanted!
For Cassandra, something else would also help her later. Since Alfia would also believe the prophecies, if there was even a one percent chance that one of Cassandra´s prophecies was true and could mean that Bell was in danger, Alfia would take this as a one hundred percent probability.
This let Cassandra like Alfia at least a tiny, little bit. Not much, but a little bit.
.
.
"Ah, Bell, Ms. Haruhime, good morning."
"Good morning, Ms. Eina."
"Good morning."
"What brings you here today?"
"Lord Dian Cecht issued us to do a quest for his familia, it has something to do with lord Miach."
Eina started to look into the paper work.
"Was it a quest that the guild issued?"
"We don´t know, Ms. Amid told us we would get the informations here."
"The Dea Saint? Ah that makes it easier."
Now Eina could look up if Amid was registered to one of the quests of the guild, since she only rarely had time to participate in such things. While she worked, Eina couldn´t help but glance to Haruhime´s tails. Now matter how often she saw it, it was a really fascinating sight. Most people in the guild noticed it of course, Haruhime was widely known in Orario now, even in some towns outside of the city, like Melen. A fact that didn´t make her that happy, she didn´t like it when people stared at her body. Especially not when men did it, except for Bell of course.
"Hm, the only quest that we have here is issued by the Dian Cecht familia and not us."
"If that helps, lord Dian Cecht said something about that not even the Loki familia could finish this quest."
"Oh, yeah it is written here that the Loki familia accepted the quest. They sent two level six adventurers to deal with it."
Haruhime and Bell looked shocked. "Two level six?!"
"Yes, but it isn´t marked as finished, strange."
Now both looked really uneasy at each other. But before Eina could continue, Bell noticed that Haruhime´s ears and nose twitched. The gold haired fox woman turned away from the counter and towards the entrance of the building. Bell followed Haruhime´s eyes and his heart made a light jump. Lefiya Viridis entered the guild building in that moment, Haruhime had heard and smelled her. Not that she had a strong body odor, but Haruhime knew and memorized it for a reason unknown to her.
Eina noticed that three out of four of Haruhime´s tails moved a bit faster, while the last one curled into Bell´s direction and touched his wrist.
And before she even looked in any other direction, Lefiya looked straight at them. Of course her fine, elven ears heard them even before she entered the building. It was widely known that elves had the sharpest ears out of all the mortal races. Beastkin came right behind the elves, but the fairy race was on top.
Every elf learned how to control his or her ears, since they normally heard absolutely everything.
But elves quickly learned to ignore certain things and focus on the important ones. But that also meant that they noticed things that were important to them faster than others. It was comparable to Haruhime's sense of smell, while she could basically smell many people, she caught Lefiya's scent much faster. Haruhime thought nothing of it, but if she would speak to an adult woman of her kind, she would immediately understand what was going on.
Lefiya´s face lit slightly up when she noticed Bell and Haruhime, immediatelly walking into their direction.
"Bell Cranel, Ms. Haruhime, good morning."
""Good morning.""
Lefiya looked curious. "What are you here for?"
Haruhime smiled. "We were issued to take on a quest. But we aren´t sure if we can actually do it, since two level six adventurers tried it and failed."
"Two level six? And you have to do it? Why?! This is ridiculous and dangerous!"
Bell smiled wryly. "A problem of our familia with the Dian Cecht familia. We have to take that quest, if we want to or not."
Lefiya shook her head. "Unbelievable! Unbelievable! There is no justice in something like that! Alright, I will help you, maybe we three can do it together."
"Eh?"
"You want to help us?"
"Of course! I can´t let you two do something so dangerous alone! This would make me feel bad!"
Haruhime chuckled while Bell smiled. "That is really kind of you, Ms. Lefiya."
Now the elf got a bit flustered again. "A-As a member of the Astrea familia of course! Also, you two just escaped a very dangerous situation that was caused by another familia. I will not stand here and watch how you two risk your lives because of such a thing!"
Eina coughed slightly to get their attention. "So, Ms. Thousand Elf, you will join Bell and Ms. Haruhime on their quest? Which means the Astrea familia will support the Miach familia?"
"Ahm...y-yes! Please enter this in the form!"
It was a good thing that Astrea told her followers that when they could fight for justice or defend it, they wouldn´t need her permission first. And Lefiya´s brain told her that this was indeed justice work. Her heart tried it´s best to tell her the true reason was something else, but just like it was for all elves, Lefiya would need a bit of time to understand what her heart wanted.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Lefiya."
"Yes, thank you, Ms. Lefiya."
The smiles of Bell and Haruhime were already worth it for Lefiya.
Eina finished to fill the form and showed them the note with the quest desrciption.
"So, this is were you have to go and what you will have to do."
"Ms. Eina, could you give us the alias of the Loki familia members that tried to do the quest before?"
"I´m sorry Bell, that isn´t allowed."
.
.
"Wow, this really is a big Mansion."
"Indeed, quite big."
Lefiya frowned. "This Mansion is much bigger than our home."
Bell nodded. "And also bigger than our new home, a bit at least."
"Have you completely moved in?"
"Yes, it was quite some work. Not because we had much stuff, but...god Apollo had quite a unique taste for decorations..."
Lefiya noticed that Haruhime shivered a bit. "They were very unique...and some of them very lewd..."
The elf adjusted her small backpack. "Do you have a plan how we shall do it, Bell Cranel?"
"Hm, I´m not so sure. But I guess magic is our best option. Should we split up?"
Haruhime´s tails shot up and got stiff. "No! Absolutely not!"
"Haruhime?"
"D-Do you know how many horror stories I read that start exactly like that?!"
Lefiya nodded. "I have to agree with her, why would people split up in such a situation?"
"Hm, then we should probably stick close together and start with the ground floor. Or should we head to the basement first?"
Haruhime vehemently shook her head. "Please no..."
They walked slowly towards the entrance of the huge, abandoned Mansion. The Mansion stood in the south-south-west district of Orario, part of the old town. Right in the middle between south main and south west main. Close to the big river that flowed through this part of Orario. In fact it was more than a water channel, over the many centuries of Orario's existence the river had been fortified on the sides in some areas.
Even when this Mansion was really big, looked very nice and had a good location, no one lived here.
But what was the reason for it? It was quite simple, the reason was the same as for their quest.
The Mansion was haunted, by ghosts.
And they had to exorcise the ghosts. Dian Cecht bought this huge Mansion from the guild for a pretty cheap price, he had plans for it. But before he could use the mansion, the ghosts had to be exorcised first. He could probably send Amid to do it, but her time was too expensive for that, he would lose money this way.
The question was how to do it? Since even the Loki familia had failed this quest, it could be very hard.
Bell wasn´t really afraid, more excited. He had faced War Shadows and other dangerous monsters in the dungeon, even the Goliath for a short time. Everyone knew that monsters on the surface were much weaker than those in the dungon, since with every new generation, the magic stones got smaller. Except for the ancient monsters that still lived up to this day. Rumors said that the strongest monsters still alive from ancient times were all in the sea. While not as strong as the king of the seas, Leviathan, there were other mythological creatures out there. And the first that came to Bell´s mind, was the legendary Kraken.
Lefiya wasn´t afraid at all, she had seen the White Palace of the 37th floor and went deeper down. Simple ghosts were nothing against that. Also, she had quite a lot of magic spells that she could use, thanks to Elf Ring. One of them should work, probably one of Filvis´, since they were light elemental based.
The only one that was afraid was Haruhime, the sight of her being frightened awakened the desire in Bell and Lefiya to protect her. Lefiya swore an oath by herself, no ghost would be allowed to scare Haruhime, she would obliterate it first.
When they arrived at the door of the Mansion, Bell put both of his hands on the door and pushed one side open. The door creaked and squeaked loudly, the hinges were rusted. As the door slowly swung open, small plumes of dust swirled across the floor. Everything in here was covered with a light dust or with plants. Over the years of disuse, the vegetation in the mansion's garden had climbed up the house, shattered window panes and grown further inward, so that about a tenth of the house was overgrown. Dust was of course also on the floor...and footprints.
"Bell Cranel, stop."
"Hm?"
Lefiya walked past Bell and crouched down, eyeing the footprints in the dust.
"These are footprints of two people. Judging by the size I would say, women. But it is strange, it looks like only one of them wore boots, the other footprints are from bare feet. Who walks into such a dirty house with bare feet?"
"You can read footprints?"
"Of course I can, Bell Cranel. I grew up in a forest before I was picked up by the education district. You must be able to read tracks when you live in a forest."
"Picked...up?"
"That´s what I said."
"How did a district pick you up? Did the teachers came all the way to your forest?"
"Let us talk about this later, please."
"Alright. So two people, most likely those of the Loki familia."
"Most likely."
"Hm bare foot...strange."
Bell and Lefiya felt that something fluffy touched them when Haruhime pushed herself closer to them, looking nervous. Out of instinct she sought the closeness of the two, one of her tails curling the tip around one of their wrists each. A fact that Bell enjoyed and Lefiya at least didn't dislike.
So fluffy!
"zon..."
"Haruhime?"
Haruhime looked nervous around. "An amazon. Th-The bare foot prints."
"Oh, that makes sense! Well done, Ms. Haruhime." Lefiya smiled when she heard Haruhime´s idea.
Bell and Lefiya only had contact with one amazon each, but Haruhime was surrounded by them for a big part of her life, so she had this idea naturally.
"Hmm...so maybe Ms. Tiona or her sister."
"Ms. Tiona?" Lefiya looked surprised.
"Yeah, she is also called "Crusher". She is one of the stronger members of her familia."
"You know her, Bell?" He felt Haruhime´s tail tighten a bit.
"Yes, when Ms. Alise and Ms. Ryu trained with me before the wargame, she appeared one day and asked if we could let her join. She was the first member of the Loki familia that I talked to."
While they talked, Lefiya got up again and they slowly started to check the ground floor.
"The first member? But you talked to Lady Riveria before. And the sword Princess."
"Oh right, that day at the potato snack stall, that was the Nine Hell, right?"
"Yes."
"And the woman next to her was the famous sword princess?"
"Are you making fun of me, Bell Cranel?"
"Huh?"
"Are you telling me you don´t know that this was the sword princess or that you don´t know what she looks like?"
"I don´t know. I never looked it up since I was busy with my familia. And after that, more interested in your familia."
"Huh?"
"I mean, all of you are so friendly, you saved us and helped us a lot. Especially you."
"Wh-What are you saying, Bell...Cranel..."
What is wrong with me? Why does my heart race like that after his words?!
Lefiya felt Haruhime´s tail more around her wrist. "Bell is right, you really saved us multiple times."
"It was only the right thing to do."
"Still, thank you. And...sorry that I bit you."
Lefiya´s heart pounded faster and she got a bit red.
"N-N-No problem!"
Why did she have to mention thaaaat?!
When it happened during the camp time, Lefiya was only a bit flustered. But now that she knew what such a bite meant, it was extremely embarrassing.
Bell looked confused. "You bit her?"
"Th-That´s completely, absolutely, definetely not your business, Bell Cranel!"
"Oh, okay then."
Did they have a fight?
Bell decided it would be the best not to put his nose into this matter. A wise advice from his grandfather from the past.
Just to be safe, Bell walked in front of them, a hand always on the hilt of Silence, ready to use his magic with the other hand. Lefiya was stronger than him, but his nature demanded from him to protect the two. Haruhime walked in the middle, while Lefiya took the role of the rear guard.
Since it was bright outside, a few windows broken so they heard birds chirping and other noises, it wasn´t really that scary. For Bell it was just an old, abandoned Mansion. But on the other hand, something had to be in here, otherwise the Loki familia wouldn´t have failed the quest.
They were almost halfway through scouting the massive ground floor when they heard the first noise.
"Uuuuuuhn..."
It was some sort of howl, not very loud, as if someone somewhere was moaning.
"Hiiiiii!"
Haruhime immediatelly flinched and all four of her tails got pushed against her legs from behind, shivering in fear.
"Uuuuuuuhn..."
Bell stopped, Haruhime bumped lightly into him and immediatelly hugged him from behind. When he slowly turned around, Haruhime moved with him, soon her face was burried at his chest. Bell gently patted her back while he looked at Lefiya. Lefiya had her eyes closed and focussed on her ears.
"Uuuuuuuhn..."
"Hm, it comes from above us."
"Then we should go upstairs."
"Bell, no! Please!"
Haruhime pulled her face away from Bell´s chest, Lefiya and Bell felt their hearts getting squeezed when they saw her adorable face and the fact that she was crying a bit.
"Please...not there..."
"Haruhime, I will protect you, I promise."
Lefiya gently touched Haruhime´s back too, one of the tails curled immediatelly around Lefiya´s wrist.
"We will protect you, nothing will happen to you."
"Uuuuh...Ms. Lefiyaa..."
Haruhime whimpered...and stole Lefiya´s heart forever by doing that.
Kyuuuh! She is so cute! I want to take her home with me and care for her forever!
Only then did Lefiya notice, that her hand also touched the side of Bell´s hand. A fact that she didn´t mind anymore, Lefiya got used to the fact that her body didn´t react in the normal way to Bell´s touch.
Ah, it´s him again. Auuu...why do I feel so weird about you two? What is this strange feeling in my heart?
Without thinking what she actually did, Lefiya gently hugged Haruhime from behind, so that the fox girl got sandwiched between her and Bell.
"Its okay, its okay."
"Haruhime, we´re here for you."
After a few moments getting hugged like this, Haruhime calmed down enough to stop pressing herself against Bell.
"Thank you...both of you."
Haruhime looked up into Bell´s face with an expression that let his heart race and his cheeks getting warm. It was a longing gaze.
Then Haruhime looked over her shoulder to Lefiya...the look she showed her was quite similar. While she looked into Haruhime´s face and her mouth got suddenly really dry, Lefiya also noticed that Bell looked at her...and she at him.
Auuu...don´t look at me right now... my heart can´t take it...I don´t understand these feelings!
What made it worse for Lefiya, Bell slowly opened his mouth and it looked like he wanted to say something important!
W-Wait...wait!
Never before in her life was Lefiya so glad that a howl interrupted a conversation.
"Uuuuuuuhn!"
Haruhime´s body jerked one time, Lefiya got a bit more red when she felt...Haruhime´s wonderful, soft butt getting pressed against her.
Au...she is so soft...she smells so niiiiice!
"Haruhime, Lefiya, let us go. We shouldn´t waste time on this quest."
"R-Right! W-We should go!"
"Auu...I´m behind you, Bell..."
Lefiya didn´t even notice that Bell used her name without a honorific.
Bell finally unsheated Silence, the sight of it was pretty fascinating for Lefiya.
But what he did next really surprised her.
He held his left hand at the cross guard of his sword, then he whispered. "Thunderbolt."
Actinic blue lightning jumped over from his hand onto the blade. All the runes that were imbedded into the sword started to shine in the same blue color. Tiny bolts of lightning twitched and licked along the sword blade, weaving a kind of lightning field around the sharp edges. What fascinated Lefiya the most was that the lightning field did not disappear but remained even after several seconds had passed. Then, as Bell approached the stairwell with his sword, it was a bit like a blue torch. With a magically charged sword like this, he should even be able to hurt ghosts.
"You can do something like that, Bell?"
All three were too focused on their surroundings to notice how Lefiya was now saying only Bell.
"Yes, I learned it after training a lot with my magic. Because my sword has a core of mythril, it can hold the magic quite well."
"Wow, then this is a really good sword."
"Mhm, the best."
"But having your first magic spell at level two is amazing."
"I actually got it at level one, before I even came to Orario."
"At level one?! Now this is quite the deed."
"Hehe, but it is my only spell. Lord Miach told me I only have one slot for magic."
"Should you tell me something that important?"
"You have my complete trust, Lefiya."
"Mh, fine. But you shouldn´t tell that anyone else. Not even my familia. I understand that you trust us and that our familias are becoming good friends. But such an information is way too important."
"Still, I trust you. Also it is only fair, you explained to us how your Elf Ring magic works."
"Th-This and that are two different things."
Haruhime dared to join the conversation. "I don´t think so."
Eventually they arrived at the top of the stairs, Bell held Silence up and the blue light illuminated the upper floor. Not that it was actually dark here, since sunlight fell through the windows, but the hallway was not bright either.
.
"Uuuuuuuhn..."
.
Lefiya and Haruhime pointed to the left now. Bell took Silence in both hands and they moved slowly. He couldn´t keep the magic on his blade forever, it drained his mind power.
Lefiya mumbled softly behind him, probably a chant for her magic, Haruhime closed her hands around a small talisman, that she got from Mikoto.
The whimpering moans grew louder the closer they got to the source. Finally they stood in front of a large door, the moans came from the room behind it, even Bell could hear it well now.
It sounded female.
Like from a...child.
"Ready?" Bell whispered.
Lefiya nodded and raised her left hand, it looked like a magic circle was slowly moving around her wrist. Haruhime raised her talisman and lowered her tails.
Bell pushed the door open with his full strength...and got thrown back when a shadow launched itself at him.
.
"Wääääääääh!"
.
When Bell´s body collided with Haruhime, she also got pushed back and fell against Lefiya, who immediatelly catched her when both fell to the ground. Silence became dull again when Bell lost his concentration, Lefiya´s magic circle vanished too. It was a good thing that the magic spell she held ready with Double Cannon didn´t turn into Ignis Fatus when she lost focus, the magic circle just dissolved.
"Kyau!"
"Eek!"
"Ack!"
All four fell down.
Four.
Not three.
There were four people now...
Haruhime landed in Lefiya´s arms, her back pressed against Lefiya´s chest, the elf´s arms closed around Haruhime´s chest and stomach.
And Bell...someone else landed in his arms...
.
"Uuuuhn! Wäääääh!"
.
Whatever it was that landed in Bell´s arms, it was crying and sobbing.
She was crying and sobbing.
It was a girl...or maybe a young woman.
With long, golden hair...and golden eyes.
Golden eyes that were filled with tears and slightly red from crying.
"Wääääh! Please don´t leave me alone!"
A face that was wet from tears looked into Bell´s face.
The face of Ais Wallenstein.
"Eh?"
Suddenly, her hug got stronger and she clung to Bell.
Irkh!
Her level six hug...Bell almost heard his bones creaking.
Lefiya and Haruhime overcame being surprised quicker. ""Bell!""
"S-Sword Princess?!"
"*Hic* *Hic* *Hic*"
Ais Wallenstein clung to Bell´s chest and was crying like a small girl. Like the small girl that was her inner, true self. In the splitsecond that she had after the door got pushed open by Bell, she mistook him for someone else.
"*Hic* Papa...*Hic*"
She was in a state of shock and panic. So she mistook Bell for her father, with the light close to his face and more coming from behind, he looked a bit like him for a second. Not that he could know that.
"Eh?!"
Ais whimpered. "Please don´t abandon me!"
A jolt shot through Bell, Haruhime and Lefiya. To see the sword princess with such a vulnerable, pleading face, would lead most people to fall completely for her.
Not knowing what else he could do, Bell put his hands on her shoulders.
"Shhh, it´s okay, we´re here."
They saw her lower lip tremble. "Really?"
"Yes...it´s okay."
Ais burried her face in the surprised Bell´s neck and sobbed.
"Ms. Lefiya, could you let go of me? But thank you for catching me."
"Oh, r-right!"
Only now did Lefiya notice that she still held Haruhime and where her hands were. Haruhime got up carefully, using her tails to balance herself. Then she offered Lefiya her hand and helped the elf to get up. The fact that Lefiya took the hand and even smiled when she did that, said enough.
Both looked at the sobbing girl and Bell, who looked at them with an apologetic face. Since Lefiya was an elf, Haruhime was the one that knelt down and carefully put her hand on Ais´ shoulder. Before she did that, Haruhime pulled something out of her backpack.
"Sword princess?"
"Mmmh..."
Haruhime unwrapped what she held in hand. "Would you like to eat something?"
Ais´ face shot up, she noticed the rice ball that Haruhime made and held in her hands. From experience in the Pleasure Quarter, Haruhime knew that it was easier to comfort shocked or panicked people when they had something warm to drink or something small to eat. Chewing on something helped to distract them from their fear.
Ais immediatelly let go of Bell and took the rice ball. When she started to nibble on it, Ais looked more like a small animal.
Since Lefiya was the most experienced of the three when it came to shocked people, she crouched down in front of Ais.
"Sword Princess, can you tell us what happened?"
Ais shook her head vehemently.
"Please tell us what happened."
Again, she shook her head.
Lefiya sighed. "If you don´t tell us what happened, I will take away the rice ball."
It was hard to believe, that the frightened girl in front of them was one of the strongest adventurers in all of Orario.
"G-G-Ghost..."
"A ghost?"
Ais nodded strongly and tried to distract herself with the rice ball.
"You´ve seen a ghost?"
"Hiiii!"
Ais covered her ears. "Don´t say that name!"
Bell, Haruhime and Lefiya looked at each other, could it really be that the mighty, strong, unstoppable sword princess...was afraid of simple ghosts?
Bell crouched down next to Ais.
"Sword princess, why are you even here?"
"A quest..."
"You were the one to take up the quest of the Dian Cecht familia?"
"Yes...and a friend..."
"And I assume...you are afraid of "those"?"
Ais got pale and red at the same time, only nodded.
Haruhime gave Ais a small travel cup with tea. "But sword princess, why did you take up this quest then?"
"I need money..."
Lefiya leaned at first close to Haruhime, then to Bell. "Expeditions are very expensive, especially for those that fight in the front lines. Since the Loki familia explores the deepest parts, they probably have very high costs."
"Irgh...what do we do now?" Bell wanted to continue the quest, but he couldn´t abandon a frightened girl.
"Sword princess, you said you came with a friend?"
"Yes...but Tiona said "Aiiis, it´s pointless, let´s go home and do another quest, I´ll go on ahead.", then she...left."
"She left you here alone?"
Bell smiled wryly. "I guess she thought the sword princess would follow her immediatelly."
"What brings you to that idea?"
"I met Ms. Tiona before, you could say it would fit her nature."
"Hm."
Haruhime gently touched Ais´ shoulder. "Shall we escort you out of the Mansion? We will take care of the quest, so you can go home."
Ais´ face lit up immediatelly.
It didn´t take them long to bring Ais out of the Mansion. As soon as she was outside, Ais thanked them and...ran away. It looked like she was incredibly relieved to be outside again.
The encounter was strange and they wouldn´t talk about it with anyone, to protect the dignity of Ais Wallenstein. Everyone was afraid of something and it would be wrong to gossip about this.
But Ais wouldn´t forget what these three, nice people did for her. That they rescued her.
.
.
After Ais was gone, they went into the Mansion again. Haruhime was a tiny bit less afraid now, she just knew that Bell and Lefiya would protect her.
The first floor was also empty, as well as the second.
Which only left...the basement.
"Auuu...I knew it...it had to be the basement..."
When Haruhime shivered, Lefiya gently tapped her shoulder and showed her a smile. "Don´t worry, we can do this."
Bell turned to Haruhime before he would use the stairs down to the basement. "Haruhime, I entrust you with my back. Please keep your magic ready, I believe that there might be our only hope."
She saw his complete trust in her, Haruhime nodded and prepared herself. Lefiya smiled behind Haruhime, she understood what Bell did.
From the basement, they heard moans and groans.
Haruhime closed her hands around the small staff that she carried with her. Recently she had started to train with Chigusa and Mikoto, using a staff to defend herself. Since Haruhime was a bit of a supporter, caster and archer, she had trouble when a monster got close to her.
So to give her friends enough time to come and help her when this happened, she learned how to block.
When he saw that, Takemikazuchi watched them train, gave Haruhime advice and thought about some things. About something that could fit Haruhime´s style and nature very well.
But for now, this staff also helped Haruhime to calm a bit down. Not that a wooden staff would help her against a ghost.
"Burn."
Bell made the first step on the stair, holding Silence with both hands next to his face, the tip pointed forward.
"Rise up flickering flame. Burning Fire. Bringer of light. Bring froth your gentle light and sacred warmth."
It wasn´t the first time that Lefiya heard this chant, but somehow it sounded even more beautiful than usual. Since she walked behind Haruhime, she noticed how the tails slowly curled up, just as the ears perked up. By herself, Lefiya thought that Haruhime was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, even more beautiful than her goddess.
"Burn."
Bell made another step down, they heard strange noises from the basement. This time there was no chance that this could be another mortal. The moaning came from something that shouldn´t be part of this world. And it wasn´t just from one spot in the basement, it seemed to come from everywhere.
"Grant me your divine blessing. The golden light that shines from above. Come forth and enlighten the darkness."
Lefiya´s ears twitched, she heard something between the words of Haruhime´s chant. Whatever was down there, it was angry. With a low voice, Lefiya also started to chant again.
Filvis, I will borrow your magic.
"Burn."
Bell felt his sword shudder in his hands, as if it felt something. He had the guess for a while now, that Silence was a really special sword and not only because it was a gift from Alfia. Sometimes it felt as if the sword was...alive. Not with a mind on it´s own and of course not like the infamous "cursed" or "demonic" swords in some of the old stories. But whenever Bell used the sword to strike down a monster it was as if...he learned a bit more about the monsters. Not about their lives or what they thought, but about their weaknesses. Alfia teached him about all kinds of monsters, where the weakspots were, but in some, rare cases, he learned something new.
For example, a special weakspot at War Shadows.
"Turn to ash the corruption, the undead, the unnatural. Hear my call, for I am the divine daughter. I am the avatar of sunfire! My name is Tamamo! I am the demon fox!"
Bell and Lefiya blinked surprised, Haruhime´s chant had...changed?
"BURN!"
Haruhime´s voice changed while she chanted. From a soft, ethereal whisper to a strong, nearly divine voice. And now, she shouted, it was such a strong voice, so...otherworldly...that Lefiya felt a pleasant shiver running down her spine. Flames started to flicker all over Haruhime´s four tails, her ears and her long hair.
She looked almost like a goddess of the sun.
What only Bell could see when he glanced over his shoulder, Haruhime´s eyes turned golden when the spell was about to come to it´s end. Not the golden color of Ais Wallenstein´s eyes...something stronger...more pure...elemental. The same color as the sun had.
A voice deep inside Haruhime yelled out, awakened by her fear, her instinct and her magic. By the presence of the unnatural, the undead and the darkness.
This part of Haruhime´s heart...her soul...her very being, repelled these things. If these things represented chaos and destruction, Haruhime was the exact opposite. She radiated warmth, purity, love and security.
She was anathema to these things. Yet, she didn´t feel hatred because Haruhime was unable to feel this way. Her magic and her soul were the polar opposite, like water and fire. So she followed her instinct.
In the moment that Bell arrived at the bottom of the stairs and the darkness rushed towards them, Haruhime finished her chant.
.
"Taiyō no honō!"
.
They didn´t step into a basement, they stepped into complete darkness. Darkness that moved, darkness that moaned. Darkness that rushed at them and tried to devour them.
.
Darkness that started to shreek in immense pain when a sun appeared in it´s middle.
.
.
The bright, golden orange fire of the sun washed over Haruhime´s hair, ears and tails. Not just tiny, flickering sparks like when she was just chanting.
Right now, Haruhime was a fire fox.
And the bright shine of her fire illuminated the darkness. It wasn´t just one ghost that existed down here. They looked a bit like War Shadows, but more greenish, since there was no natural light down here that green color was impossible to see.
Lefiya had no words for what Haruhime did, she pressed herself against Bell from behind, gently wrapped her arms around his chest and...kissed his neck from the side. Or maybe it was a bite...yes...this looked a lot like what Haruhime did to Lefiya in the camp. In the same movement, Haruhime´s tails wrapped around Lefiya´s arms and legs, pulling her into the intimate, loving hug.
A part of the flames washed over Bell towards Silence, another part over Lefiya´s body, to her hands. But not only her hands, also her ears. Bell and Lefiya had fox ears made of sunfire right now. The fire didn´t hurt them, instead filled them with a gentle warmth...and a feeling of love. Strong love. Love for a partner, love for...a mate. Lefiya´s heart hammered in her chest, her cheeks flushed, even when no words fell, the gaze that she received from Haruhime out of the corner of her eye said everything.
While Haruhime held her head tilted to bite Bell, to mark her second mate, she looked deep into Lefiya´s eyes, the following, sensual blink, made Lefiya´s knees weak.
Even more with the sight of Haruhime "kissing" Bell from the side. Lefiya´s eyes were glued to that spot, were glued to Bell´s neck, which let her own lips twitch. Were glued to Haruhime´s soft, pink lips, that looked so inviting.
Her ears and cheeks got completely red when Haruhime separated her lips from Bell´s neck, a fine string of saliva connected their bodies for a moment.
Maybe it was just one of Lefiya´s fantasies, but Haruhime looked incredibly sensual and sexy right now.
Then, Haruhime took her hands away from Bell, stretched both of her arms to the sides, put her ring and middle fingers together, pushed against the thumbs while she stretched out the index and pinkies.
Bell charged forward, holding up his sowrd that was engulfed in bright flames. Two of Haruhime´s tails were still burning, the others had given their flames to Bell and Lefiya. She used the flames of these tails and moved them to her hands, which had formed fox heads using the fingers.
"Kon!"
The flames formed small fox heads and shot away from Haruhime´s hands, rushing into the darkness and burning ghosts and...War Shadows.
Monsters?!
Lefiya had to look twice, there really were War Shadows among the ghosts.
"Thunderbolt!"
Instead of a blue lightning, golden lightning shot out of Bell´s sword, piercing ghosts and War Shadows, while jumping from one to the next.
As if they had trained for this for a long time, did they act all together. Bell took a stand and protect them from the front, while Haruhime turned around to Lefiya, who stepped closer and raised her staff.
"Dio Grail!"
When the golden barrier formed around them, flames flickered along the shield, burning and scorching every ghost and War Shadow that came in contact with it.
Haruhime´s magic is incredible!
Lefiya saw that Haruhime´s lips moved, she chanted again, this time her other spell. The elf knew that Haruhime had two spells, but not what the other did, it was one of the biggest secrets of the Miach familia. Haruhime pulled Lefiya closer and whispered into her ear, while Lefiya was ready to unleash the magic that she kept in her left arm.
.
.
And exactly in that moment...another fantasy came over Lefiya. There was no way she could take her eyes away from Haruhime. In her fantasy, Haruhime put her hand on Lefiya´s chin and raised her face a bit up.
Lefiya whimpered. "Haruhime..."
And then...Haruhime spoke the magical words in Lefiya´s fantasy. These wonderful words in the far eastern language, that Kaguya used sometimes when she teased Ryu.
"Ara~ Ara~..Ufufufu~"
Auuu...
.
.
Lefiya really had a problem with these fantasies. Or actually...no, actually she didn´t have a problem with these fantasies. Only the timing was often a bit bad.
.
.
"Uchide no Kozuchi."
.
.
Instead of yelling it out, Haruhime whispered so soft that it gave Lefiya goosebumps. The feeling that rushed through her body couldn´t be compared to anything else. It was as if her power shot up by a lot, it felt so incredible and good, that she nearly lost control over her magic.
Lefiya grew to wax in Haruhime´s hands.
"Haaahn~~~..."
Lefiya couldn´t stop herself from making this noise. Not only felt Haruhime´s enchant wonderful, but Lefiya tilted her head slightly to the side, granting Haruhime access to her neck. When Haruhime was like that, she didn´t really think straight, she did what her heart told her. Haruhime hugged Lefiya and bit her neck again, more gentle this time.
There was no doubt anymore, Haruhime had marked her two mates.
It was a confession of love.
Does that mea-Hyaaan~~~~!
Lefiya had to let it out or she would lose control over her magic.
"F-Fussilade Fallaricaaa!"
Out of the tip of Lefiya´s staff they came. Dozens and dozens of bright, golden-orange, fiery arrows. They shot into every direction, burned away ghosts and monsters alike, scorched them, destroyed them, obliterated them.
As well as a big part of the basement of the Mansion...
.
.
A fiery wave washed all over the basement, cleansing and purifying every nook and cranny. Dio Grail was still up, the shield protected them from the backwash of the fire. Only due to Lefiya´s skill, the Double Cannon, was she able to do something like that. Not even Riveria Ljos Alf could dare to use two magic spells at the same time. And only because Haruhime had buffed Lefiya by a whole level, was it easier to keep the control over such a thing.
The heavenly flames burned and destroyed evey monster and ghost in the basement. Not one of them survived...if that would´ve been the right word.
.
.
Smoke filled the basement when the flames died out, some of them had washed up and scorched the staircase.
After her magic ended, Haruhime´s eyes looked normal again. And then...she noticed what she was doing to Lefiya at the moment. That she left a hickey at her neck again...and had left one at Bell´s neck.
"K-Kyuuuuu!"
Haruhime backed away immediatelly, her cheeks were more than just pink.
"S-S-Sorry! H-How could I?! Kyuuuuuu!"
Does she make this sound every time she is embarrassed? How cute.
Instead of saying it was okay, Lefiya took Haruhime´s hand for a short moment and looked into her eyes.
"Eh?"
Lefiya blinked.
"E-Eeh?! M-Ms. Lefiya?"
Lefiya let go of Haruhime´s hand.
And then...the time went slow like honey.
.
.
The ground creaked.
Bell was about to turn around.
The ground creaked again.
Faster than he could react, the floor collapsed and Bell fell down into darkness.
""Bell!""
It didn´t stop, the ground creaked again, more of it collapsed. Haruhime and Lefiya couldn´t jump away in time.
It was like an avalanche, the part of the basement where they stood broke away.
.
.
There was a part of Orario between the dungeon and the basements of the houses and Mansions, the sewers. It wasn´t a place that most people wanted to visit, but it was exactly the place that the three fell towards.
When they fell through the collapsing ground, none of the three escaped unharmed. A beam beneath Bell splintered as it broke off, his leg grazing the splintered end and ripping open his skin and most of the pant leg. Haruhime's shoulder grazed another fragment, sustaining a laceration on her left side. Lefiya turned unfavorably in the fall, her beloved jacket and top were slashed from behind and mostly torn away, several deep abrasions adorned her skin. Even if the fall was less than ten meters deep, all three were injured.
The question was, why did the ground collapse at all? It couldn't have been the magic because they hadn't hit the ground. Another question was...why were there monsters in the basement?
Bell was the first to hit the ground. The entire sewers were completely built over hundreds of years. Everything here was built with gray stones, a canal ran down the middle, with wide ledges on either side. Luckily, that part of the sewers was there for the supply. Which meant the water here came from the river to feed the canals. So it was still clean and without faeces. Since he was in free fall, Bell couldn't control his fall, luckily he fell feet first. In his mind, Bell apologized to Silence as he threw the sword aside, it skidded across the floor and crashed into a wall far enough away for none of the three to fall on it.
His feet hit the ground near the edge of the water channel, he landed awkwardly and a sharp pain shot through his injured leg. Before he could fully recover, his head shot up. He saw the debris coming and the two fall. Fortunately, the mind was able to recognize in fractions of a second if and where there was danger. However, he only had fractions of a second to act. So there was no time to think, Bell jumped. He just managed to get his body between the floor and the two ladies. The impact was no joy for Bell. Of course, he would never dare say Haruhime or Lefiya were heavy, but being hit by two bodies was still painful. Which he happily accepted, since neither of them would land on their feet like he did. Haruhime hit him first, her back against his chest. Lefiya basically fell on both of them, Haruhime's tails being a blessing at that moment.
The air was pressed out of the lungs of all three, a really unpleasant feeling. What protected her from the most serious injuries, however, were the remains of the golden shield Lefiya had summoned, some debris ricocheted off as the shield disintegrated. Part of the basement had collapsed on them, sealing the hole completely.
They were trapped in the sewers.
.
