"Thunderbolt!"

Bell had raised his hand to the sky and unleashed his magic, blinding the members of the Astrea familia for a second. He hugged Alfia to his body and tried to help her up, but she was too weak.

"Get away from my Mom!"

They recovered faster than he had expected.

"Bell, stop it!"

"Bell, please don´t!"

Lefiya and Haruhime tried to calm Bell down, but he was in panic. He didn´t know what to do, his Mom was in danger! Why did it have to be the Astrea familia out of all people to find and threaten her?! Why?!

Ryu had immediatelly stepped in front of her goddess to protect her.

Alfia weakly tugged Bell´s sleeve. "Bell...please don´t...don´t fight them..."

After he used his magic, a few members of the Astrea familia also pointed their weapons at him.

"Captain! Everyone! Please!"

Alise growled. "Be quiet for now, Lefiya."

No matter how much she liked Bell, Alise wouldn´t tolerate any threat to her goddess.

Bell let his palm wander around in panic, should he try using the other form of his magic, lift his Mom up and run?

Astrea was barely visible behind Ryu. "Bell, please calm down."

"No! I will not let you take away my Mom! You will not harm her!"

His face went quickly left and right, they were surrounded, there was no way out.

What should he do?!

Being in a panic didn´t help. If he attacked the Astrea Familia, he would lose everything!

"Bell...please don´t do this...please let them arrest me..."

He saw that Alfia had tears in her eyes, not because of herself, but because she was afraid what could happen to him.

Bell cried out in panic...and raised his hand in the direction of Ryu and Astrea.

Only to find it chopped off a splitsecond later by Alise, who had a murderous expression on her face now...

.

.

It should´ve been a wonderful day, Bell´s first date with Haruhime and Lefiya. They hadn´t really planned anything special, strolling through the city and see what would happen.

Then they had noticed the trouble at the market place and what happened there.

Afterwards, Lefiya and Haruhime tried their best to cheer him up, Lefiya told them about the most important figure in the history of her home forest. Slowly they had fallen asleep next to each other.

But nightmares came to Bell this night, his mind was in turmoil. The nightmare he just had came again and again with different outcomes. Sometimes the Astrea Familia quickly killed Alfia, sometimes him, in one he managed to pick up Alfia, run away, half of Orario chased them.

Whatever happened, Bell lost everything. He lost his Mom, Haruhime, Lefiya, all of his friends, his life...

No matter what he did, he had no chance to get things right.

He had no choice but to let the Astrea Familia arrest Alfia.

It was no surprise that Bell had nightmares because of that. But he was quite lucky that his two girlfriends were a Renard and an Elf, both had very sensitive ears. They heard him mumbling in his sleep and woke up from that. Lefiya and Haruhime were both very sleepy too, otherwise they would´ve noticed that the current situation was outraging, to sleep in one bed so early in their relationship.
They moved a bit around in the bed without waking Bell up, soon Haruhime was on his left side, Lefiya on the right side.

Both hugged him gently, put their heads on his chest, shared a short, gentle kiss and closed their eyes again. As soon as their soft bodies touched him, Bell calmed down.

Their presence stopped the nightmares, he knew that Alfia´s life wasn´t in danger, the Astrea familia wouldn´t kill her.

.

.

Bell wasn´t the only one that had trouble sleeping, most members of the Astrea familia were the same. Only the younger members, like Laurier and Filvis could sleep. Well Filvis was actually worried sick about her little sister...

But for the older members and the goddess, those that fought during the dark times...Alfia's appearance opened old wounds.

As soon as Alfia returned to the Mansion, escorted by Ryu, she went into the room that would be hers and closed the door. She could lock the door from the inside, but she got no key for that. She went to work as quiet as possible and put her belongings into various places in her room. Her ears caught the various noises in the Stardust Garden, unknown noises from unknown people. Alfia was aware that someone was sitting in front of her door, but she didn´t open her door or say anything to that. When everything was in place, Alfia put the pictures of Bell and Meteria onto her desk, changed into her sleeping clothes and sat down on the bed. She took both pictures into her hands and stared at them for a long time.

Eventually, a drop of water fell onto the picture of Bell, then onto Meteria´s.

Alfia cried in silence, not making any noise.

She didn´t cry because of her situation, she cried for another reason.

Meteria...I´m sorry...I´m so sorry...because of me...Bell has trouble now.

More tears ran down her cheeks.

My Sweety...my baby...I´m so sorry. Now you have trouble with your friends...maybe with your girlfriend. I know that you like all of them very much, maybe you could´ve become happy in this familia. But because of me...I´m so sorry.

That was all that mattered for her, that she brought Bell trouble. This was unforgivable.

I will make up for it, Bell. I swear it.

.

.

Night slowly fell over the Stardust Garden, the sky was mostly clear. It was a full moon.

"Hah.."

Neze sighed, she sat on the rooftop of her home, as she always did when a full moon was up. Her werewolf blood demanded it.

"You okay?"

"No, Vi, not really..."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Mh."

"Shall we just listen?"

"That would be nice."

And so Neze started to tell the young dark elf the story. Even when Viana wasn´t the easiest person to talk to, she was a great listener. Both sipped on their drinks, Neze preferred cold beer, while Viana drank Moonberry Juice. Normally elves shouldn´t drink too much of this stuff, since it made them drunk and in some cases "more open", but since Viana consumed so much poison due to her work, her body was mostly immune against alcohol.

.

.

"*Hic* *Hic* *Hic*"

Astrea sobbed. The goddess sat in the living room, only one single magic stone lamp gave off a bit light. She held a picture in her hand, a picture of her familia during the dark times. Astrea gently carressed with her thumb the faces of three members.

"Noin...Asta...Celty..."

Tears streamed down her face. It wasn´t Alfia that killed them, otherwise Astrea wouldn´t held back and ordered her children to execute her. No...it was thanks to Alfia that she only lost these three and not more.

"Lady Astrea?..."

"Milady..."

Maryuu and Iska slowly came into the living room and sat down on both sides of her goddess. It hurt them to see her like this, but the picture also opened old wounds inside their hearts as well. They hugged their goddess gently from both sides, soon the three cried together for their dead friends.

.

.

"What do you think, Kaguya?"

"Mh, can´t say much."

"You wanna punch her?"

"You bet."

"With your metal arm?"

"Maybe, it would surely hurt."

Lyra shrugged her shoulders. "But I guess she is the reason why you only lost your arm and not more."

"True."

Both sat on the floor on the other side of the hallway, facing Alfia´s door. At all time, one of Astrea´s children would keep an eye on Alfia´s room.

"What do you think about her being part of our familia?"

Kaguya snorted. "She isn´t part of our familia. Alfia is our prisoner."

"Heh, would´ve never thought this would happen some day."

"I know, hard to believe she survived this fall."

"Guess we were lucky that she did."

"Yeah, hah...it lets my Sake taste foul that we owe her our lives."

"Are you still mad that she caught your sword with just two fingers?"

"Absolutely."

"Hm, judging by her look, I would say she isn´t as strong as she was in the past."

"You heard Lady Astrea, except for her magic, her complete status is reduced to zero, as if she was just a fresh level seven."

"Did you just say "just a fresh level seven"?"

Kaguya rolled her eyes "You know what I mean, Lyra."

"Yeah, I never heard that something like this is possible."

"Apparently she is really sick."

"I guess Alise cutting her open also didn´t help."

"Yeah, but was quite the sight."

"Can´t say I feel sorry for her."

"Nope."

Both stared at the door.

"You think she can hear us?"

"Most likely."

Lyra scratched her chin. "I wonder how Lady Astrea did it, forcing her into our familia I mean."

"Do you really want to know it?"

"Of course I do, Vice-Captain." Lyra grinned.

"Apparently, gods can lock our Falna in more than one way, a very inexperienced god may not even know how to hide the blessing."

In a former orphanage, a small goddess with a giant rack sneezed.

"Then there is another lock, most gods use it. So that the follower can never go to another god and just change the familia, that the god has to approve. Lady Astrea did that for all of us, to protect us. That way no one can capture one of us, torture us and force us into that familia."

"And Alfia doesn´t have that lock?"

"From what Alise told me, no. Alfia was a pretty big number in the Hera familia, apparently the strongest, even when the Empress was level nine."

"Judging what we saw, I can believe that. So you´re telling me Hera never locked the Falna of someone that powerful?"

"Maybe Alfia didn´t let her."

"A mortal telling a god what to do? Hah. So she basically agreed to the change in her Falna?"

"I guess so."

Kaguya shrugged her shoulders. Lyra noticed that Kaguya slowly caressed her silver arm.

Both went silent for a while.

"I wonder what kind of informations she can give us about the really deep levels."

"More than what the Loki Familia knows."

"Yeah, but even if we know about the really deep levels, we don´t have the manpower to go that deep."

Kaguya and Lyra chuckled after Lyra said the word "manpower", it was a joke in the Astrea Familia.

"Well there are also things about the upper levels that we don´t know."

"Oh?"

Kaguya grinned a bit. "Did you know that there is a hidden hot spring in the dungeon? There are a few monsters there, but for someone like us, easy to deal with."

"A hot spring? In the dungeon?"

"Jup."

"Ha..."

"And on the 37th Floor, there is a hidden safe zone, one end is close to the Colloseum, the other more to the exit. Apparently there is a stream with fresh, clean water there."

"Wow, now that is big news."

"Yeah, she had already started to make notes for Belli and his friends."

Both went quiet after Kaguya mentioned Bell.

"Hah...you know...taking the mother away from such a cute, innocent boy...it makes me feel like a villain in some way."

"Same. Why does she have a son as cute as Bell? Why can´t her son be some jerk."

"But we can´t stop doing our duty just because of him."

"Also, he is allowed to visit her for one hour a week."

"Oh? That´s really nice of Lady Astrea."

"I heard it was Alise´s idea. But yeah, Lady Astrea only does that because its him. And the fact that he is Lefiya´s boyfriend."

"Hm. You know, I´m glad that Alfia told him to cooperate with us and not do anything dumb."

"Yeah, if he had turned out to work for Evilus, Alise would´ve probably been faster than me to cut him down on the spot, for tricking Lefiya and us all."

Both went quiet again.

"Hah...why did we have to find her so close to our attack on Evilus..."

"Hey, you´re the one that found her."

"I know, I still have the right to complain."

"You know, I somehow look forward to see her do most of the housework...and wear a maid costume."

"I thought that was just a joke from Alise?"

"Do you really think our captain would joke about something like that?"

"Probably not."

"Yeah, Alise likes these maid outfits."

"But she mostly made Lion wear them."

Suddenly, Kaguya started to chuckle.

"What?"

"I just imagined Lion´s face when she sees Alfia wearing a maid outfit."

"You mean because of these giant boobs?"

"Yeah, they´re bigger than Lady Astrea´s."

"Probably Lady Demeter level."

"You think?"

"We should put them next to each other so that we can compare."

Kaguya and Lyra continued their silly talk. It was their way to deal with the situation and tease Alfia more than a bit because she could hear them.

.

.

The faint sound of rain drops hitting the glas, the windowsil and the stone in front of the window was the loudest noise in Alise´s room. The sky was still clear outside, but she had spent some money on a special kind of water crystal, that hang outside of her window. There were three of them and produced only drops of water. These crystals were actually damaged water crystals and due to that, worthless. But a quite clever merchant found another way to use them. With three of these, Alise could immitate the sound of rain against her window. So while the rest of the Stardust Garden remained dry, she had the sound of light rain. It helped her to fall asleep.

Alise wasn´t alone in her room, someone sat next to her on her bed. The gentle light of the full moon fell through the window. Rain sound and light of the full moon was a nice combination.

When Alise had returned from taking a shower, she found Ryu sitting on her bed, looking a bit depressed. Alise just sat down next to her without saying a word.

After a while, Alise glanced to Ryu, to her rips, Ryu startled a bit when she felt the gentle touch of Alise´s finger tips.

"Alise?"

"It was here, hm?"

"Yes.."

It wasn´t the first time that Alise gently touched the spot where the Juggernaut´s tail had hit Ryu and broke her rips that day.

"Asta..."

"Noin..."

"Celty..."

"And nearly you and Kaguya...Ryu."

As usual, Alise only called her by her first name when they were alone.

Alise felt and heard that Ryu took a very deep breath.

"Nearly it got us all."

"Probably...but even if some of us had the chance to escape...Kaguya and you...I mean..."

It was rare to hear Alise being at a loss for words. Alise had no problem to show her familia her vulnerable side, she trusted them all. But she only opened a special place in her heart up to Ryu and Astrea. As her first child, Alise had a special bond with Astrea, with Ryu it was something else.

Alise moved carefully and Ryu didn´t stop her when she put her arms around Ryu, hugging her softly.

"We nearly lost everything on that day."

"Mhm..."

Alise slowly moved her head closer and leaned it against Ryu´s, the elf didn´t move away or even flinch, she returned the gesture, for her this was already very intimate behaviour.

"I don´t know what I would´ve done if that thing got more of us..."

Ryu heard the special meaning in Alise´s sentence. She meant more of their familia...but especially Ryu. Some people would say that this incident was over ten years ago now, but seeing Alfia again made it painful again.

"To think it was her that saved us..."

"Hard to believe..."

"Alise?"

"Hm?"

"Do you believe what she said? Why they did all that?"

"To be honest, I do."

"But you can´t forgive her for what she did?"

"I can forgive her that she did what she did, but not what she did. That I think of Bell as a friend aside, I don´t have the desire to kill Alfia. To punish her, yes, but not to kill her."

"Mh."

"Because...if she didn´t appear in that moment...I would´ve lost my heart."

Ryu blinked, then she glanced at Alise, but her dear friend had averted her face. What Alise meant with these words was still obvious. The elf gently returned Alise´s hug, thinking about the past.

"I´m in this familia because of you, Alise."

"Mhm."

"I have to thank you for everything I have."

"Hehe...to be expected of me."

Alise heard Ryu chuckle slightly. "Have I ever told you how much you surprised me that day?"

"A few times."

"Oh?"

"Hehe, but I think it wasn´t just me. It was also the fact that you met Lady Astrea before in that street."

"She was really kind and so beautiful."

Alise understood what Ryu meant to say with that, it wasn´t just that Astrea was beautiful as a woman. Ryu was a pure blooded elf and grew up among her kind, but nearly no elf that she ever met was "beautiful" in her eyes, due to their behaviour. But Astrea was different, not because she was a deity, but because she was who she was.

"And you were beautiful too."

"Hehe, did you fall for me in the first moment we met? As to be expected of me, to make such a cute elf fall for me at first sight."

"No...don´t tease me, Alise..."

"Why not? I´m the only one allowed to do this."

"True."

When Alise felt a gentle touch at her hand and slowly entangled fingers with Ryu, she got her answer, no words were needed. If both had thought about it and were really honest with each other...well Alise was always honest with herself...they basically were a couple for over two years now. Their behaviour towards each other had slowly and slightly changed, but they didn´t notice that so far.

"Ryu?"

"Hm?"

Ryu yelped slightly when she felt a push from Alise, falling backwards and landing on the bed on her back, Alise leaned over her.

"A-Alise?"

"Ryu, you know, as the captain of this familia, I have the right to give people a promotion."

"Eh? Is that true?"

"Yes, I can choose the Vice Captain for example."

"But Kaguya is the Vice Captain."

"That´s why I promote you hereby...to my special someone."

In the gentle moon light, Alise saw that Ryu´s cheeks turned red, she felt that Ryu gently squeezed her hand.

"Ryu..."

"Y-Yes?..."

Ryu saw that Alise smiled lovingly. Out of all her familia members, only Alise and Astrea knew how romantic Ryu truly was. And how she pictured a certain event happening.

"Ryu...under the light of this full moon and with it as the witness, I swear this oath to you. I hereby promise to love you for all my life, never will I look at someone else like I do at you. You are the one that is in my heart and ones that place. I love you, Ryu."

"Alise...I..." Tears filled Ryu´s eyes and her heart raced, but she still averted her face slightly, not able to look into Alise´s eyes. "I...l-love...you..."

It was true, her heart told her that it was true.

"And Ryu, I will gladly repeat my pledge again. At the next full moon, in a forest outside of Orario."

"Eh?"

Alise smiled. "I know you well enough, Ryu."

"Mh..."

"Hehe, you´re smiling, does it make you happy?"

"Don´t tease me...Alise..."

"Oh I will do that, for the rest of our lives. This is my personal privilege."

"F-Fine then..."

"Hehe, I guess you really love me."

"Ali-...se?..."

Ryu´s eyes widened when Alise moved her face closer to her own.

"Ryu...Is it...okay?"

"Mh...be gentle.."

Alise felt a gentle squeeze at her hands again...they really held both hands of the other, the fingers entangled. When Alise moved closer, Ryu closed her eyes...and slightly raised her chin.

Alise closed her eyes too, moved slowly down and...

When their lips met in a gentle kiss, it was pure magic.

It was the most wonderful thing they ever experienced in their lives.

When Ryu sighed into the kiss, Alise was truly happy. Alise didn´t go too far, she knew Ryu well enough, also she had no intention to do more than cuddling and kissing for now. But Ryu had to admit that it felt nice, kissing Alise while feeling the soft body slightly pressing onto her own. And her ears burned in shame, because she held both of Alise´s hands at the same time.

Seeing Alfia again was hard for the familia and sent their emotions into turmoil. So Ryu and Alise spent the night together, Alise gently hugged Ryu from behind while they slept.

From this point onwards, both were an item.

But the second kiss would wait until Alise fulfilled Ryu´s wish for the ceremony in a forest at full moon. She was looking forward to it.

And to wake up in the morning, seeing Ryu´s face as the first thing...the face of her girlfriend ...it made Alise really happy.

Normally it would take a long time for Ryu to do something like kissing or sleeping in one bed together, cuddling on top of that. But they knew each other for a long time now...she just got honest with her feelings now.

Ryu would still be very embarrassed in the morning. Since Alise had the same habbit as Bell, nibbling on an elven ear in her sleep when it came too close to her mouth.

As she promised her, Alise didn´t tell anyone about it, that would wait. The only one that noticed it was Astrea, it was impossible for them to hide something like that from their goddess, but she didn´t say anything.

.

.

.

The sight in the morning was really precious for Bell, he saw how Haruhime and Lefiya slept peacefully. At some point they had moved again in their sleep, now Lefiya was in the middle and for some reason the tip of her right ear was slightly wet, while the ear was completely red.

Bell heard a noise that sounded like a kiss and noticed that Lefiya shivered slightly and...whimpered.

"Le...fi...ya..?" He was not completely awake.

She tried to turn her face, but something stopped her. "H-Haru..."

Bell saw the golden ears twitching next to Lefiya´s neck, then Haruhime raised her head. "Mnyu?..."

The sight was cute and a tiny bit lewd, how Haruhime raised her face and a very fine string connected her lips for a second to Lefiya´s neck.

Both saw that their beloved elf was extremely embarrassed. "What are you two doing to me..."

It took a few minutes to get completely awake, then a pretty flustered Lefiya "scolded" her two lovers, who were sitting on the carpet on their legs.

"I-I can´t believe you! Doing something like that to me in my sleep...that´s way too early for us!"

"I´m sorry...I don´t know how this happened.." Bell looked equally flustered.

"Hauu...I´m sorry for being a naughty fox..." Haruhime hid her face behind her hands, only shyly glancing up to Lefiya between two fingers.

She glanced at a certain spot.

"Haruhime, my eyes are up here."

"Kyu! I´m fowwy..."

Haruhime had glanced at Lefiya´s neck again...she really liked that spot.

"Hah...we shouldn´t do these things so soon. Cuddling is okay...but not going further. Also...no leaving hickeys at my neck all the time...my familia will tease me for it."

But Haruhime couldn´t help it, Lefiya´s neck looked really delicious, her animalistic instincts told her to kiss her there.

"Lefiya?"

"Bell?"

"Ahm...weren´t you supposed...to be back at your home in the evening?"

Lefiya gasped. "Oh dear gods no...No!"

When they fell asleep next to each other, it was easy to forget everything and cuddle in their sleep.

"Aaagh...what I´m gonna do now..."

"We could just tell them the truth."

"It´s the best option probably..."

Haruhime smiled. "I can lend you a few of my clothes if you want."

They all had slept in their clothes, so walking back like that to her home, was something Lefiya as an elf couldn´t do.

"Thank you."

The rest of the morning was short, Haruhime was more than a bit embarrassed to show and give Lefiya a bit of her underwear, with a kimono they had no problem.

Since Lefiya wanted to go home as soon as possible, they didn´t eat breakfast. The mood in the home wasn´t that good, most of them didn´t know what to say to Bell.

When they went to the door, Miach waited for them.

"Lord Miach, Haruhime and I-"

The god raised his hand. "I guessed that, Bell. I will go with you, to talk to Astrea."

They had a bit trouble to keep Bell under control, he wanted to run multiple times. He was worried sick what might´ve happened to Alfia. Soon enough they arrived at the Stardust Garden, a yawning Neze stood at the entrance of the grounds, the sun only illuminated Babel so far.

"Ms. Neze, good morning..."

"Hm? Ah, morning, Lefi."

"I have company and we-"

Neze just opened the gate and waved them through. She didn´t say anything else, the Werewolf wasn´t a morning person.

Lefiya took out a key from her pocket when they arrived at the door of the house, but it got opened before she could put her key into the hole.

"Lefi!"

"Hu-Wuärgh!"

Lefiya stumbled inside, pulled by her very worried big sister. She found herself in Filvis´ embrace.

"What happened, Lefi?! What did that brute of a human do to you?!"

"F-Filvis! Calm down! Bell isn´t a brute! He is my boyfriend!"

"Aaaah! This word! THIS word! Oh my poor, little, Lefiya!"

Filvis glared angry at Bell and a bit at Haruhime.

"Y-You two! What did you do to my adorable, innocent, cute, pure and perfect little sister?! Did you make her stay f-for the night! I bet you didn´t let her go!"

Haruhime looked at her indignantly. "We did nothing of that sort!"

"And what is this here?! Another hickey?!"

"Kyuuu..." Haruhime looked away.

"Aha! I knew it! A-A-A-And this here?! Why is the tip of her ear red?! As if something nibbled on it?! Did you two attack her in her sleep?!"

"We did not! It was an accident, it just happened when we were asleep!"

Filvis´ face lost all color. "You...slept...together..."

Haruhime hastily clapped her hands over her mouth, shocked that she revealed it right away.

From behind, they heard a sigh.

"Filvis...let them come in for now...Geez, your sis con is going too far again."

"I don´t have a sis con, captain!"

"Mhm, yeah sure..."

Filvis still pulled Lefiya to the side, to protect her little sister.

Alise yawned. "Sorry that you had to see this, Filvis is a bit different when it comes to Lefi. You know how elves can be."

Haruhime didn´t dare to say much, Bell said nothing. Alise looked at him, but Miach stepped forward.

"Alise, I would like to talk to Astrea."

The red haired woman nodded. "She is in the living room."

"Thank you."

Alise looked at Bell then. "Please follow me."

"Mh."

"Bell, I will stay here with Lefiya for now."

He nodded to Haruhime and followed Alise.

"Bell?"

He didn´t react, Alise noticed how worried he was. Maybe it was better not to talk to him at the moment. The captain of the Astrea familia was very unhappy with how things had turned out. They didn´t have to walk long, Alise showed him a door that looked like all the other rooms.

"This is her room."

"I don´t see any lock."

"Did you expect we put her into a small jail? Maybe in our basement and lock her away?"

"Ahm..."

"Hah...please don´t think we´re so cruel, Bell. The situation isn´t easy for us too, we have to figure out how things are right now. But I guess that has to wait anyway, here."

Alise knocked gently three times against the door and waited. They heard silent steps, then the door got opened. As soon as the door was opened far enough, Bell jumped at Alfia.

"Mom!"

"Unf! B-Bell?!"

He nearly pushed her to the ground, Alfia could barely stand, but she put her hands immediatelly around Bell.

"*Hic* Mom! *Hic*"

"Sweety..."

Alise closed the door, so that Bell and Alfia were alone in her room. As weak as she currently was, Alfia was not a danger for the Astrea familia.

Outside of the room, Alise ruffled her own hair in frustration, she didn´t know what to do. It was good and just that they captured Alfia, she was a criminal of the highest order. She had killed many people back then in Orario and deserved to be killed for that. But then there was also the fact that she had saved the lives of all of them. Which of course didn´t redeem her in any way. But still...without Alfia, all of Alise´s friends would´ve been dead.

And then there was Bell, the thought about him let Alise sigh again. Bell was really cute, she liked him a lot, all of them did, especially Lefiya of course. Alise´s problem with taking Alfia capture wasn´t that Alfia would feel bad, but that she would take the mother from a young man.

She didn´t know what to do, but for now she let them alone. Alise wandered through the house, lost in her thoughts. She went to her room to bring her toothbrush back to the bathroom, Alise forgot the reason why she had brushed her teeth in her room this morning.

What to do...how can we handle this situation...

Alise went into the bathroom, put her toothbrush back and left the bathroom again. Maybe Astrea knew an answer, but she was talking with Takemikazuchi right now.

"Hah...I´m going to make myself some tea..."

.

.
A very embarrassed and shocked Ryu looked at the bathroom door that Alise had just closed behind her. Water dripped from Ryu´s naked body, she just came out of the shower when Alise came into the bathroom. The elf was currently busy to dry her hair, so her arms were raised and her body completely visible. Ryu was too shocked to yell out, she had hastily covered her chest and crotch with her hands, looking at Alise with a deep red face. But Alise just put her toothbrush away while she mumbled and left the bathroom again.

Alise was so deep in her thoughts that she didn´t notice the wooden leaf that hang at the bathroom door, a sign that one of the elves used the bathroom currently. She also didn´t notice the naked Ryu...

Ryu blinked perplexed. "E-Eh?!"

It was already embarrassing when one of the others saw her naked, but Alise...that was something else now. Ryu moved quickly and locked the bathroom door this time, her heart raced and her face was hot.

Alise would never know what a sight she missed by being so distracted. But Ryu was glad that she missed it...

Seeing her like this was way too early.

.

.
Bell and Alfia held each other for a while, she felt that he trembled.

"Bell...I´m so sorry..."

"Mom, you don´t need to!"

It broke her heart to hear him sob like that, he really was just a boy that missed his Mom right now.

When he eventually let go of her, Bell looked at her worried.

"They didn´t do anything to you, right?"

Alfia sat down on her bed, Bell on the only chair in the room.

"No they didn´t, Bell. Astrea´s children aren´t like that. They will watch over me, I am not allowed to leave the ground of the Stardust Garden."

"But..."

"It was the best outcome I could hope for."

"Really?"

"Yes, the Loki or Freya familia would´ve killed me on the spot."

"Mh.."

"Bell, please don´t get mad with them or ruin your relationship with any of them. I deserve punishment for what I did."

It took Alfia a while to calm Bell down, they talked about this and that. Bell didn´t think it was necessary to tell Alfia how he, Haruhime and Lefiya slept this night. To distract him, Alfia asked him something important.

"You will soon go with your party to face the Goliath, right?"

"Yes, everyone was working hard for that."

"I know that you can do it, just promise me to be careful."

"We will."

"Will your elven girlfriend go with you?"

"No, we don´t think it is a good idea, we would probably end relying on her strength."

"Good, you can only become stronger when you don´t have too much help from someone that is stronger than you."

He smiled slightly when he heard that. "Except from me of course."

"Will you still write down the stuff about the dungeon for us?"

"Of course. But I have to split my work now, thankfully I can spare the lower floors for Astrea´s children with a few exceptions."

"What do you mean?"

"The hidden spots."

"Ah, like the hot spring you told us about?"

"Correct. You should´ve seen how Astrea´s elf reacted when she heard about the hidden forest bath at the 18th floor."

I guess she means Ms. Ryu...

"And in contrast to the plans that you have, I can add some things to their plans. Where some ores appear more often."

"You really know a lot, Mom."

"Of course I do."

"Mom?"

"Yes, Sweety?"

"Are you really okay with the situation?"

She slightly shrugged her shoulders. "Do you know what is the only thing in the world that matters to me?"

He got a bit red and chuckled embarrassed. "I?"

"Correct. And I made a decision for myself. I did all the things in the dark times to make Orario´s adventurers stronger. Since it wasn´t enough and they didn´t get as strong as we hoped they would, I have to do more."

"So?"

"I will use this as a chance to make the Astrea familia as strong as they have to."

Bell flinched a bit when he noticed Alfia´s special, diabolical smile.

"Oh I'll enjoy the day they embarrass the Loki and Freya familias. When these two ******* goddesses fall from their position as the "strongest". Bell please forget the word I said just now, this is not good for your education. To think that they are the strongest and only one of them has one level seven! Hah! Weaklings. In my prime I would´ve defeated both familias alone, at once!"

"M-Mom?!"

"Sorry, Sweety. I got a bit carried away."

"Mom, could it be...do you actually like the Astrea familia?"

Bell shrunk a few sizes under Alfia´s glare. Alfia "liked" no one, except for him. She would make them stronger, so strong that Bell would have worthy companions.

The talk continued for a full hour, then a knock came from the door.

"Bell, you have to go now."

"Okay...will you be okay?"

"I guess so."

"And your health?"

"It´s okay now, I won´t die so soon."

"I will do my best to get your potion ready."

She just smiled, leaned forward and kissed Bell´s forehead.

"Go now, Bell."

He opened the door, looked a last time at Alfia and went outside.

Alise stood on the other side of the door and showed Bell a wry smile. "Would you follow me, Bell?"

"Sure..."

"Hah...Bell, look...I´m sorry for you that we have to keep your Mom here...but..."

"I understand you, Ms. Alise. She told me to not hold a grudge against you."

"Mmmh! You still give me a feeling that I am the villain here..."

"You don´t have to. I know it is because of you that I can visit her an hour a day."

"Eh?! Who told you that?!"

"Ms. Ryu."

"Argh...Ry-...Lion...hah, anyway, please follow me."

Alise led Bell into the big living room of the Mansion, where Astrea and Miach sat. The captain of the Astrea familia sat down next to her goddess, Bell to Miach´s right.

"Bell, I would like to apologize to you."

"Lord Miach?"

"I have failed you so many times already. At first with the wargame and Apollo´s familia, now your Mom was captured."

"This isn´t your fault, Lord Miach."

"It is. I am too weak, a god leading a familia should be strong and protect his followers and their families. I am really sorry, Bell."

"Lord Miach, I...ahm..." Bell didn´t know what to say.

"Miach, don´t make yourself small. Bell, even if he thinks otherwise, Miach is pretty strong on his own. As a matter of facts, you know that your familia is much weaker than my own, yet he mostly dictated the conversation we had."

"What kind of conversation?"

"It was Alise´s idea to let you see Alfia at least once in a week for an hour. Miach demanded to make it an hour a day and for some special days, the whole day. I will agree to that, but I can´t allow her to leave the grounds of my familia."

"Th-Thank you."

Astrea shook her head. "I´m in a bit of a pinch here, so we need to find the best solution. This way, we will punish Alfia, but you will still have the chance to see her."

"Thank you."

"Bell, I will be honest with you. This came at a very bad time. My children will soon go to fight against Evilus. So that we found her at this moment, threw them all off track."

"Is there any way we can help you? To fight Evilus I mean?"

"Your offer honors you, but no, you don´t have the strength. We will defeat them anyway."

Miach frowned slightly. "Astrea, when Bell comes here the next days, I will give him small boxes with the strongest potions we can produce. I´m sorry that we can´t provide more."

Astrea smiled. "Your potions will be a big help."

Bell looked a bit worried. "Will you send my Mom to fight too?"

Astrea shook her head. "She is too weak at the moment, also...I can´t trust her at the moment. She would distract my children. Also we have to keep her a secret, Loki and Freya can´t be allowed to know about her."

Their talk got interrupted by a shout.

"WHAT?! Are you serious?!"

"Kaguya, don´t yell so much."

"What, because she likes it quiet?"

"No, because I´m an elf and my ears are sensitive."

"Oh, right."

Then hasty steps followed and soon, Ryu and Kaguya entered the living room.

Astrea smiled "gently". "May I ask why you two are shouting like that? I thought I made myself clear about shouting and running in the house."

""Sorry, Lady Astrea!""

"So, what got you two so agitated? We have an important talk here."

"Can we borrow Alise for a moment?" Kaguya wasn´t as calm as usual.

"No."

"Oh..."

"Say what it is, so that we can continue."

Ryu held up a few paper sheets. "Ms. Alfia gave me the finished notes about all the secrets in the dungeon down to the 38th floor."

"She finished that so soon?"

Bell dared to smile. "My Mom is fast in these things."

Astrea sighed in her mind, happy that Bell could actually smile in their presence. It would´ve broken her heart if he got on bad terms with her children after the arrest of Alfia. Since elves only fell in loves once in their life, with their true love, destroying the young relationship of Lefiya and Bell...Astrea could never forgive herself for that.

She too wanted to see some white haired half elves some day...

"And I guess from your behaviour, there is something special about it?"

Ryu handed Alise a certain sheet, Astrea a copy of that. Alise´s eyes widened in shock when she read what was written there.

The goddess raised an eyebrow. "What is "Elementium"? I´ve never heard about this."

Kaguya and Ryu nodded eagerly. ""Never did we.""

Bell looked confused. "You mean the element infused mythril that appears rarely in the dungeon?"

All of the others looked baffled at him.

Astrea looked a bit confused at first. "How do you know about that?"

"My Mom told me about it when I watched her one day, while she made notes."

"Ah, so she made notes for you and your party already?"

"Of course."

"What exactly did Alfia tell you about this "Elementium"?"

"That sometimes in the dungeon various ores appear, Mythril, Adamantite, Orichalcum and others. You know that Mythril works very well with magic?"

All of them nodded.

"Mom told me that sometimes when Mythril ores appear on certain floors, like the Water Capital, it starts to get infused with the element of that floor. Normally as soon as adventurers see Mythril, they mine it. But a few members of her familia found spots away from the main road, she said it was rare that someone went there. One day they discovered Mythril that looked different from the normal ore. Over time, they discovered this strange Myhtril on different floors, each looking different. Some were bluish, others reddish or slightly white."

"Please go on..."

"They mined this special Mythril and brought it back to the surface, marking the spots on their maps. The Hera familia didn´t have a personal smith that could work with this ore, but the Zeus familia had. They formed a contract to never tell anyone else about it."

"Hah...Zeus and Hera..." Astrea rolled her eyes.

Alise nearly drooled. "So does that mean...ever since they are gone...no one has mined this incredibe ore?"

"Probably."

"Bell, did she mention what kind of effect this ore had?"

"The first ones got destroyed when the forge of the smith exploded, apparently it was hard to handle. When they got the hang out of it, they were able to forge a few weapons that were infused with the element of the floor. It weren´t magic swords, but it helped when the owner used magic of the same element. They had the theory that when a smith was able to forge magic weapons, this ore could become amazing, but they never had one."

"W-W-W-We need to mine this! Dear heavens! This information is so valuable!"

Ryu and Kaguya agreed with Alise, thankfully Alise was the only one that drooled.

Astrea looked like she was in thoughts. "Bell?"

"Yes?"

"Say...the young man that belongs to Hephaistos in your party...the one of the Crozzo familia..."

Bell shyly raised his hand. "Lady Astrea..I ahm...I would rather not talk about him. I don´t like it to talk about other people about what they can do. Please ask him these things yourself...okay?"

He looked a bit frightened, hoped that he didn´t upset her.

"You´re right, Bell. I´m sorry, I forgot myself for a moment...Alise, wipe your mouth, you´re still drooling."

"Woops!"

Astrea looked at the paper again. "These informations indeed are incredibly valuable...Miach?"

"Yes?"

"Since Alfia is giving these informations to my familia and to Bell, I would like to form a contract between our familias."

"What do you have in mind?"

"My children will focus on Knossos for the moment, but when this is all over they will go back to the dungeon again. When your children and their party get strong enough to visit these floors, we will share the ore between us. I will talk to Hephaistos to see if there is someone in her familia that can work with this ore. My feeling is that her captain will do much to get her hands on this ore."

"And about the other hidden things?"

"We will share them between us. I will give you a share of the stuff that my children get from the dungeon, so that your children can work with it too. Your captain is a genius when it comes to making potions, I would like to see what she can do in the future."

While the Miach familia was weaker in terms of sheer strength, they had some people with interesting abilities.

Miach smiled in his most charming way. "So, you propose an alliance between our familias?"

"I do, my friend."

"Then so be it, our familias will work more together in the future. It would´ve happened anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Miach grinned. "I mean, some of your children already started or tried to adopt a few of mine and Take´s"

Astrea raised an eyebrow. "And two of your children "charmed" one of mine."

Both gods smiled, jokes like these were normal among gods.

Bell was really glad that Alfia made the first positive impressions on the Astrea familia. .

.

.

The talk continued a bit, but Bell excused himself since he wanted to talk to someone. He went outside, knowing who he looked for was in the garden. When he found them it was better than he hoped for.

Lefiya and Haruhime sat next to each other in the garden between the flowers. Haruhime´s tails moved gently behind her, both had moved their heads towards each other and they shared a gentle, loving kiss. For Bell it was one of the prettiest sights in the world to see them kissing.

And then he saw Haruhime doing an incredibly lewd gesture.

She curled one of her tails so that it looked like she was waving towards him, inviting him to come closer. Another tail curled around Lefiya´s left wrist, a third touched her waist.

He slowly came closer and sat down in front of them. Their long, long kiss continued, somehow it felt even better now that Bell was watching them.

Eventually the kiss ended, Haruhime looked at Bell with a special gaze, it was a bit feral, she wanted to kiss him too.

And he did.

He somehow felt how much she enjoyed kissing him...kissing them.

"Bell..."

Lefiya looked at him longingly.

Bell moved closer to her and couldn´t believe his luck, to have such wonderful girlfriends. Haruhime couldn´t hold back, she moved a bit closer and kissed Lefiya´s neck at her favorite spot.

Right in the moment when Filvis looked around a corner of the house to see what her little sister was doing.

And fainted on the spot.

From seeing her beloved, adorable, cute, innocent, pure, little sister...getting "defiled".

By being kissed by two people at once.

Even when Haruhime didn´t leave a hickey this time.

.

.

Deep inside the dungeon a group of "people" were running in fear, some of them wounded.

"Run! Don´t look back! Just run!"

"Aaaargh! It hurts! It hurts!"

"We have to help the others!"

"They stayed behind to give us cover!"

"Ruuun!"

One of the "people" that ran, was a tall, red scaled Lizardman. He had only one arm, the other ended just below his shoulder. With his remaining arm, he carried a young girl, that had blue skin and a few scales here and there. With him ran an Al´Miraj, a hellhound, a gargoyle that was missing one wing, a siren that had a wound on her hip and a harpy that was missing one of her foot claws.

In the distance behind them echoed howles of different monsters through the tunnels.

Monsters that fought against another monster...and got slaughtered one by one.

Only these seven would survive this day.

They were the only remains of a group that was called "the Xenos".

The monster that followed them was as bulky as a minotaur, but a dragon type monster with black scales. One claw looked more like a hand, the other was much bigger and ended in five, scythe like claws.

That drakonid had just showed up from somewhere in the dungeon, attacked the group and killed the monsters one by one.

But it didn´t kill them directly. Just disarming them, knocking them down, maybe cut off a limb or two...and then it opened it´s maw wider than it should be possible and devoured them.

.

.

This monster was a special child of the dungeon.

Filled with only a few desires in it´s existence.

It was Rage incarnate.

Felt endless hunger.

And would restore the old order.

To free the great Mother.

To destroy the man made copy of it´s mother.

Blood splattered from it´s teeth as it roared in anger and devoured the Xenos it could capture.

Only seven escaped it..him...for now.

There were more beings to devour...like adventurers...and gods.

He was his mother´s Avatar of Destruction.

And he would continue to devour and grow stronger.

.

.

The last thing the Xenos heard as they ran for their lives, was the titanic scream of the Drakonid.

It screamed out it´s name, filled with a hatred and rage that burned as hot as lava.

.

.
"FAAAAAFNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!"

.

.

.

.

Inside the Mansion of the Miach familia, inside the Bell´s room, lay the sword of a long dead hero on his table. He had gifted it to Alfia after his grandfather let him choose, but now she gave it back to him, since she wasn´t allowed to have a weapon.

No one was inside his room.

A very slight howl...for most people it would sound like a howl...came from the blade. As if small wind circled around the blade inside the sheath.

.

.

And in her room in the Twillight Mansion, Ais Wallenstein raised her head. She sat on her bed and played with a small potato snack plushy.

Tears were running down her cheeks for an unknown reason.

She had the feeling to hear a faint whisper in the wind.

A whisper she didn´t hear in a long...long...time.

Her lower lip quivered, more tears came.

.

.

"Mama..."

.